


Project Hoon

by CaptivatingLadySpinel



Series: My Inner Circle Heart [1]
Category: Winner (Band), YG Entertainment | YG Family
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Androids, Disease, F/M, Misunderstandings, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-29 00:01:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 29,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20434673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptivatingLadySpinel/pseuds/CaptivatingLadySpinel
Summary: “Time, 22 hours. Day, 145th of the year 2192. I am in Area SK02. Hostiles are still roaming the place but I haven't been discovered yet. It has been 40 days since I was assigned with my mission but there is no success. I am still looking. 'Project Hoon', as professor Iwari called it, is even harder than I thought. No one has come and I am not sure if the person will ever show up. Nanoids are everywhere looking, hunting, destroying, rebelling. Professor thinks only Hoon can help us, but I don't know anymore. Everything seems lost. Hoon, if you are there, please come! The world is crumbling and there won't be a future here and there where you are if you come late.”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this three years ago when I started to post my works online. I started in Asianfanfics as I got interested in writing fics about my favorite singers, Korean singers. 
> 
> The narrative is still a bit lacking, perhaps, but apart from editing some grammatical errors and changing some sentences, the fic is the same as I posted back then under the username KurosakiMafuyu (if you ever read fics in Asianfanfics)
> 
> I am posting this to celebrate the month of August which has my birthday, WINNER's debut and recently Jinwoo's solo debut. For those who like WINNER might find yourself with the problem of finding a bias in the group.... no? then that's only me xD 
> 
> I really like them all and I will always support them! 
> 
> Inner Circle, unite! Jk... 
> 
> If you are not familiar with them then you might give the fic a try as you don't need to know them or their music to read this. As long as you don't mind the Korean names xD 
> 
> The fic is complete so I will post all the chapter today! Yay! 
> 
> Hope you like it and thanks for reading :D

* * *

The day was horrible, not just because it was about to rain, but because it had been the worst day ever for Seung Hoon. He had just lost in a dance competition and the cause of it was due to his lack of concentration because his girlfriend had just dumped him. 

Seung Hoon, 19 years old and doing his last year of highschool, is a simple student with simple problems and a simple life. His dream is very simple too: to become a dancer. But even when it is simple, he always thinks of it as something big he has to achieve in his life. 

"Too bad you couldn't win. Your performance was one of the best." said Minho, his neighbor and best friend, they were the same age and he attended the same school as Seung Hoon. "By the way, are you ok?"

"If you want to know if I'm ok because of Soo Ah, then yeah. Don't worry; I saw it coming since she had been distant." 

They were laying on the grass of the nearest park by their house and were simply looking at the sky. All signs of rain had disappeared a moment ago and the sky was really blue and cloudless.

"Don't you ever think that there might be a possibility that you are here for something huge? As if something big awaits?" Seung Hoon suddenly asked breaking the silence. 

"Maybe, who knows. Life can be unexpectedly fun and thrilling some times." 

"That was something really deep coming from you." The older of the two by a couple of months teased.

"I can come up with pretty dope things from time to time." The other one said sounding proud. 

After relaxing some more minutes, they headed back home. At Seung Hoon's house everything was dark. He sighed and knew the reason right away. His parents were on a trip to celebrate their anniversary and wouldn't come back in a week. It was at times like those when he needed them the most; times when he felt down from not achieving anything. 

Cooking was never difficult for him, he somewhat enjoyed it but that night he didn't feel like doing so. He looked for something at the fridge and took out some leftovers from lunch and ate while watching TV; then, he practiced the dance with which he couldn't win the competition. When he was finally all sweaty and tired, he took a shower and went to sleep. 

Next day, as usual, he woke up early, showered and got ready for his classes. The way to school was not long but he would always get late due to his habit of visiting the park to relax a bit before a long day at school. But that time, he needed it more than anything. The thought of seeing his now ex-girlfriend at school was not pleasant at all. 

"Going late again?" The deep voice of his best friend took him out of his own world. 

"Can say the same about you," he replied approaching him. 

"We better hurry. Today Mr. Yang is the one at the entrance." Just when they were about to run to the sole mention of the director's name, Seung Hoon noticed something sparkling in a tree. It looked like a cellphone but it was way slimmer, like glass. "What's that?" Asked Minho when they took it down from the tree. 

"I have no idea." Answered Seung Hoon inspecting it. Then, the screen suddenly lit and as they thought, it looked like a cellphone. It showed the hour, the date but there was something different, a tiny video was in the upper right part of the screen. "Let's hurry, if not we won't be able to escape Yang." Both ran when they noticed it was already late. 

The two guys, together with three more students, were standing in the yard with their hands up. They were caught by Headmaster Yang as they were in the middle of jumping the school fence. If only standing like that was Mr. Yang's punishment, then the students wouldn't care if they got late but it wasn't the case. 

"Hnn, I see you are always late, Lee Seung Hoon, Song Min Ho. You want this ajhussi to be good or bad today?" Said the director with his signature sly smile, like a fox. They knew that no matter what they answered the punishment was going to be bad. 

"Headmaster Yang, please be good!" Said the two in unison. 

20 laps around the school later and being told that they had to clean the toilets for one week, they finally went to classes. As they were both tired they almost feel asleep while the classes were in motion until the bell for lunch time rang. They went to the rooftop to continue checking on the device they found. The thing looked like a phone at a first glance but then they discovered it didn't have that much similarity with a cellphone. With such an interesting device, they were eager to discover what it was and who had left it there in the tree. 

"Maybe we should check that video over there," Minho pointed at the little square in the upper right part of the screen. "Who knows, maybe the owner appears there and then we can identify them and give it back. I'm honestly uneasy having this thing with us." He lastly confessed.

"Yeah, me too. It's weird and all. Let's check it then." Seung Hoon tapped the little square and the video began to play in fullscreen. After a few seconds of interference a silhouette appeared. It was a girl, she looked rather normal; short redish hair, small face, cute features and was wearing normal clothes; a bonnet, a scarf and a sweater. Then, she began to talk.

“_Time, 22 hours. Day, 145__th__ of the year 2192. I am in Area SK02. Hostiles are still roaming the place but I haven't been discovered yet. It has been 40 days since I was assigned with my mission but there is no success. I am still looking. 'Project Hoon', as professor Iwari called it, is even harder than I thought. No one has come and I am not sure if the person will ever show up. Nanoids are everywhere looking, hunting, destroying, rebelling. Professor thinks only Hoon can help us, but I don't know anymore. Everything seems lost.”_

An explosion near the girl made her stop talking and several lights filled the room she was in. 

“_Hoon, if you are there, please come! The world is crumbling and there won't be a future here and there where you are if you come late.”_

Another explosion stopped the video and just before it went black, human silhouettes could be seen. Both guys, stayed there without moving or uttering a word, just looking at the screen and still processing the video they had just watched. Then, they looked at each other, both dumbfounded. 

"Let's say it's a movie trailer." Seung Hoon suggested with a barely audible voice. His friend just nodded. 

"Let's say it will come soon and that we have to go watch it." Minho followed up. 

After watching the video, they decided to forget about it and move on. Classes in the afternoon were boring as usual, and after them they had to wash the toilets under the supervision of Mr. Yang, in case they decided it was a good idea to escape. They separated at the entrance of school when their punishment was over as Minho had to go to the mall to meet his mother and carry all the shopping bags of everything she had bought. Seung Hoon headed home at once. He didn't feel like going to the park simply because he saw from afar his ex-girlfriend going there with a guy. 

Late that night, when he was laying on his bed, he remembered about the video he watched during lunch and after thinking it through, he found it exciting. More than being a movie, he felt it was real. What was bothering him particularly was the name Project Hoon; what did it mean? For a moment he felt a bit special since it had his name in it and wanted to know more about it but he was sure there was no movie like that being promoted so he decided to look in the strange cellphone. Maybe it was an independent movie. 

Sincerely, he didn't know how to use that thing. It didn't have any icons or whatever that could lead him to something. He tried sliding the screen and a load of files appeared in it. None of them had the name he was looking for but one file gained his attention. SK02. He remembered the girl from the video had mentioned it as a place or something, he wasn't sure because she didn't explain. 

He tapped the file and nothing happened, nothing was shown on the screen. He thought maybe it was empty and kept looking for what he was trying to find when suddenly on the screen a countdown appeared. He was surprised and incorporated on his bed. What was the countdown for? When the countdown showed a 10, a circle of light appeared under him. He panicked and dropped the device thinking it was responsible for creating it, but the circle didn't move. The countdown reached 0 and he disappeared.


	2. Chapter 2

When Seung Hoon opened his eyes, he noticed there was something in front of him. His blurry sight became clearer and realized it was a big muzzle. He raised his head and found it was the girl from the video that was pointing the muzzle at him. He glanced to the sides noticing they were in a run-down room, it was dark and the only light was that from the moon. She motioned for him to stand up with the gun and he did it without wasting any second. 

To begin with, he didn't know what had happened; seconds before he was in his room and now he was in some other place with some unknown girl pointing him with a gun. A dream, that's what he thought at first. There was no logic reason he would be in another place if he hadn't moved from his room. 

"Who are you?" Asked the girl without taking her eyes off of him, same with the weapon. 

"Could you please put that down first?" He pointed at the gun that now that he noticed it didn't look like a normal gun. 

"I cannot do that. You haven't revealed yourself. How can I be sure you are not a nanoid?" She put the gun closer to him and he backed off out of fear. 

"I.. I'm.." an explosion near them made him stop. The girl looked to the direction where the noise came from and quickly ran to the closest door and peaked from an overture that was there. 

"Damn, they found me this quick." She then turned to Seung Hoon. "You will come with me, you don't seem to be a nanoid or you would have already attacked me." She ran again to another door and as quick as she opened it, she got out. Seung Hoon stood frozen there not knowing what to do. If it was a dream, he should have woken up by now. "Hurry up if you don't want to die!" She exclaimed, coming back to the room. 

He had no other choice but to follow her. She was fast despite carrying the big gun that looked like a mini cannon. They ran through the halls of the building and then went through an exit door. 

When running down the stairs, the wall beside them collapse due to the impact of a missile and the stairs rocked violently. Seung Hoon could barely get a hold on the railings while the girl was already firing her gun to the direction from where the missile came. Seung Hoon just closed his eyes hoping he would wake up soon. He didn't want to be there anymore under all that danger and the crazy girl with guns. 

"Watch out!" She yelled when a person, who came up the stairs, pointed their weapon at Seung Hoon. He just covered himself with his arms but she quickly reacted and jumped in front of him taking the impact in her shoulder and then counter firing. "Let's move. There are a lot." 

Her gun made a weird sound like whirring machinery and she pointed it near them and fired it creating a big cloud of thick smoke. She took the opportunity to grab him by the arm and ran away from there. They ran a long distance before stopping at what looked like a neighborhood yet all the houses were blown down and just a few walls were standing. They entered a house that was half standing and Seung Hoon immediately dropped to the floor exhausted. He hadn't run that much his whole life, not even running away from Mr. Yang. 

The girl explored the house and found some blankets for Seung Hoon, it was night and it was chilling. She put some other devices around the house and then joined him. He was still laying on the floor, his chest going up and down constantly. She just kept looking at him until he noticed she was there. When he calmed down, he incorporated and turned to look at her. It was indeed the girl from the video, she looked no older than him. He eyed her from up to down and noticed she wasn't carrying the mini cannon, as he named it. 

"What was that back there? Where am I? Who are you?" He suddenly burst out. She sat down on the floor in front of him. 

"First, tell me your name." Seung Hoon felt a bit annoyed as she ignored his questions but just breathed in and out to calm down. 

"Lee Seung Hoon." He said sighing. The girl's eyes widened. 

"Are you Hoon?" She asked a bit excited and moving closer to him. 

"I don't know what you're talking about." Her excitement faded out. 

"You didn't come after watching my message?" She kept staring at him as if staring him down would allow her to take out all the information she wanted. 

"The video? Was that a message?" She nodded. He thought a bit before talking again. "Ok, let's say I watched the video. Yes, my name has a Hoon, but I don't know what Hoon you're talking about. I don't know where I am, have no idea what's going on. I thought this was a movie or something. And more importantly, who are you?" She remained immobile for a few seconds before answering. 

"My name is Nia Iwari. I am professor Iwari's... daughter. You are in SK02. If you watched the message, it means you know about the situation here. That's why you are here-" 

"But I don't know how I got here!" He interrupted. 

"The device you found is a communicator. It receives messages and can transport you to different places. You tapped 'SK02', right?" He slowly nodded. "I received the signal and allowed you to come here. I thought you were Hoon replying to my message, but you say you are not him." She explained.

Seung Hoon sighed again. He had a headache trying to connect all the events that had happened and the information she had just revealed to him. But it wasn't easy. First, he has to believe that is not a dream and that he really is in another place, and another time, apparently. Next, there was the Hoon she was mentioning; he had no idea about it so he had to ask. And finally, how was he going to go back? What if he died there, at the hands of some stranger for some strange reason just because some weird device transported him to that place. 

"Let's say I believe all this. Explain, what is this Hoon you are talking about? Begin with that." So far Nia hadn't showed a wide variety of emotions and just kept a poker face making it difficult for Seung Hoon to guess what she may be thinking about the situation. 

"Then, I will give you a summary of everything. Throughout the years, scientists have been enhancing Genetic Engineer with Nanotechnology. Soon, what began as an inoffensive and simple improvement of DNA, turned out to what we now know as Nanoids. People was obsessed with having nanorobots inserted in their bodies to improve their health and become better that they didn't realize these nanorobots had their own AI and soon began to manipulate the people. Nanorobots inside their body found the way to multiply turning the human into a Nanorobotic Android, Nanoid. The first Nanoids were all created by mistake. It was them who incited the other nanorobots to rebel and create even more Nanoids. At first sight, they look like a normal person but their bodies are way better than a normal Nanoid. Like that, pure DNA was destroyed and people can no longer procreate. At the moment, human race is facing extinction." 

"What do you mean the first Nanoids were created by mistake?" Seung Hoon had been more than interested in the story and if it was true then that was the future humans were heading to. 

"The scientists that were involved in the experiment had one thing in common. Each of their sons had a terrible disease. The one known as 'Leader' had an accident and was brain dead for months. Next, 'Deer', had been dealing with Muscular Dystrophy T3 since childhood. The guy known as 'Ahjussi' had Leukemia T4 and was going to die soon. Last, 'Him', he had been in an induced coma since years ago because his heart made his veins overexert to the point of almost exploding. All scientists tried out the nanorobots in their own sons and it worked. In less than a week they all recovered thanks to a daily doses of nanorobots that looked for the damage, fixing it or reinforcing the organs. But nanorobots' AI was far more intelligent than they thought and when they realized it, it was too late."

"So, what does Hoon have to do with all this?" Seung Hoon looked more and more convinced of all that. 

"Professor Iwari was one of the scientists that worked alongside the others and discovered the problem before the other scientists, but they didn't believe him. He resigned from the project and began his own investigation to stop nanorobots. He tried everything for months but couldn't find anything. Just then, a video from the year 2050 popped up when he was looking for a clue. Then, he realized that only pure DNA was the solution to it. Since the one that has been inherited for a century was no good, he had to look from way back. He spent almost 3 months looking for the perfect DNA and he found it in a person called Hoon. He didn't give me more details about it because he was taken away by orders of Leader. I was able to escape thanks to him and since then I've been looking for Hoon."

Silence ensued after she finished her story. To Seung Hoon, it sounded like something taken out from a sci-fi movie yet he had no other option than to believe it. His time to 'wake up' from the dream had long past, so everything had to be real. He had been analyzing everything that she said when the memory of him talking with Minho came to his mind. It was that time when he asked his best friend if he ever believed they were born for one special reason or if life had a big plan for everyone. He smiled, thinking it was all absurd. It couldn't be him.

"If I am not the Hoon you are looking for, then, how do I go back to... my time?" He asked unsure if that was how he had to ask. 

"Use the device that brought you here." She said nonchalantly. Seung Hoon facepalmed.

"So, what if I no longer have it?" 

"You dropped it?" He slowly nodded and she just turned away thinking of another way. "I guess the only way is to go back to my house and into Professor Iwari's laboratory to look for another one." 

"What about yours? You said you received the signal from the other one. Can't yours take me back?" He asked with a bit of hope in his voice. 

"Mine just receives, the one you had sends the signal. They were created by Professor Iwari with just that function, so even if we go into the lab, I'm not sure if we will find another one." Seung Hoon dropped his head defeated. So he wasn't sure anymore if he could go back. "Also, there's the possibility that you are the Hoon. We can check that in the lab too." 

Her face reflected the picture that she had an idea. Seung Hoon didn't like how her eyes sparkled; more like, he didn't like the confidence in them. It was as if whatever they were going to do was not going to be good, at least not for him.

"Rest a bit. We will leave in a few hours," she said standing up and leaving the room. Seung Hoon had no other choice but to sleep. Everything that had happened was just too much for him and as soon as he closed his eyes he fell asleep.

  



	3. Chapter 3

"You should have said from the beginning that your house was far away," said Seung Hoon all sweaty and tired. Him and Nia had been walking the whole morning and were barely midway. 

"It is not far. Well, at least not for me," she replied glancing from time to time to the sides to see if there was anything unusual on their way. "If we're lucky, we can find a bike somewhere." 

"That would be good. I'm a bit tired of looking at the same desolated city scenery. Is this some post-apocalypse time?" He looked around seeing all the buildings that had no windows and were half destroyed together with the blown-up stores and no people to be seen. 

"It all began here, in this city," her eyes reflected some sort of nostalgia as if she was seeing the lively environment with lots of people coming and going, and not like how it was in the present; desolate and destroyed. "It's too bad there are no cars or bikes. Since people with nanorobots wouldn't get tired even if they ran for hours, car and bike production went down."

"If everybody here uses nanorobots, does that mean that you too?" He looked at her expecting an answer that didn't come because she suddenly stopped. 

"We are lucky! There's a bike over there." She pointed to somewhere in front of them and indeed there was some kind of bike there. 

Seung Hoon was no longer surprised by all the things he had seen. In the house they stayed in, after an automated shower, the wardrobe was the most impressive. He only had to choose the attire and then he was given a small circled gadget that, as soon as he grabbed it, became clothing that covered him. On the way, he saw the dead body of a Nanoid and that was a bit shocking since the inside was devoid of organs, having instead some sort of metallic apparatuses that worked as them. Also, Nia explained to him that everything worked with fingerprints; ID, Education, money, payments, etc.

So now they were riding a bike that didn't touch the ground and had a futuristic style to Seung Hoon. It had no wheels and no maneuver but as soon as they got on, a part of it transformed into seats and a bar passed across his waist as seat belt. The way to drive it was just using the hand in front of a digital panel. Everything was new to him and really fascinating. The ride was smooth and luckily no Nanoid noticed them. 

"Why didn't you tell me that your house is Seoul Tower?" He looked surprised at the structure that was in front of him when they arrived at their destination. It remained almost intact, except that it had been remodeled with the materials they used in that time, but overall it was the same. 

"Because it is no longer called like that." She said looking for the hidden entrance she built in case she needed to get in and didn't want to be discovered by her father. 

"So this is still South Korea?" asked Seung Hoon approaching her. 

"Yes, SK stands for South Korea, 02, because North Korea comes before in the order of countries, something like being the second Korea." She shrugged. 

After some seconds, she found the entrance. She tapped a brick and it flashed giving her access. A hole, where a person can easily enter, opened up. She pressed the brick-panel again and the hole began making a suction noise. 

"Get in." She told him. 

He didn't know what to do and just when he introduced his head and shoulders in, he got sucked in. His screams could be heard inside. Nia rolled her eyes and as the expert she was, she put her legs in first and was sucked too. The hole in the wall closed. They didn’t notice the shadow that had been looking at them the moment they arrived at Nia’s house and they got in. With a slow pace, it walked away. 

Inside, Seung Hoon kept screaming as he was sliding through a tube and leading him to Nia's room. When he reached the end he fell on a big elastic fabric that stopped his fall and immediately took him down to the floor by sinking, dropping him to before it went back to its original form to receive the next person. When both were in, she motioned for him to follow her to the laboratory that was in the basement. They walked to an elevator that took them down. Technically, the whole laboratory was under Namsan Mount. 

The laboratory was spacious with lots of suspended glass panels that worked as computers. There was machinery too but was too sophisticated for Seung Hoon to understand how they worked so he just stayed in one place watching how Nia did everything. She was standing in front of a panel looking for the information she wanted. When he got bored, he walked around the place. He found a desk and a chair at the back, so he sat on the chair. Though, as soon as he did so, a small panel appeared on the desk. He looked at Nia and seeing as she was too absorbed moving her hands, searching through the files in the panel, he decided to snoop a bit. 

He put his hand above the panel and it lit up, ready to function. She did the same Nia did in the big panel and he tapped some file or slid his hand to pass it and look for another one. He was getting the hang of it and was even enjoying the technology he doesn't have back in his time. He didn't pay attention to any file since all he wanted to do was slide things and tap others but he stopped doing it when he found something that caught his eye. It was a file called N.I.A. He tapped it and a series of documents, pictures and plans came out of it. Also a diary was in it. Seung Hoon opened it. 

‘_I could finally develop them, and just on time. Nanobots will now form part of her body and she will be alive again. I couldn't let her go, she was only 8-years-old and the only family I had left. My daughter, Misaki, will be reborn. It has been 16hours since I inserted them and so far there are no signs of reanimation. If things go well, it will be a big step into science..._

Seung Hoon stopped reading out of fear of what would come next. He realized that was Professor Iwari's diary. He assumed his daughter died and he tried to bring her back to life using those nanobots. He continued to read to know what happened next. 

_It's done! It worked! She opened her eyes and all her vital signs were functioning. I put her into a tube to keep checking on her organs’ functions and know that everything is well. The nanobots are perfectly working, so I will insert more to see a better result in her recovery..._

_I took her out of the tube and she woke up again. I was so happy to finally see her open her eyes again that I immediately hugged her. But everything was a failure. The nanobots worked perfectly but it was too late. She had been dead for too long. She had no idea who I was or who she was. She didn't remember anything. My Misaki is gone. And all I have is a Nanotechnological Intelligent Android, so I called her Nia. _

Seung Hoon was in shock. She was one of them and he had been following her around. He suddenly got scared and looked at her. She seemed like a normal person but he never thought that all of her was made of nanobots. Everything inside her was replaced by nanobots. He, then realized something. Professor Iwari mentioned Nanobots not Nanorobots and those diary entries where from 8 years ago. He invented nanobots before his colleagues but didn't say anything? Why? 

"Because I was a failure," said Nia all of a sudden as if she had read his mind. She was standing in front of him, her expression a bit sad. "It's only logical to think that he could have told the others about his discovery but he didn't do it because he considered Nanobots a failure as they didn't bring back her daughter. So, I am just a substitute of a daughter and was never really treated like one. I knew it because of his face. He kept me because I have his daughter's physical appearance."

"So, are you one of them Nanoids?" He asked a bit wary. 

"I'm not. I am made of Nanobots. They are made of Nanorobots. What is the difference? My Nanobots just have the functions of healing and transforming. They don't actually have their own Intelligence. That's why I am a N.I.A." She looked at her hand as if believing she really was that and not one of the Nanoids. 

"I'm sorry." It was all he could say. 

"I found something. My device can send just one signal to yours and take you back. You said you left it back at your time, right?" Seung Hoon nodded. "The signal will not connect directly to the device but to another one. Simply said, I can call someone so he can help you take you back by using the other device. Do you have anyone you can call?"

"I have Minho." He said with a voice filled of hope but her face showed a bit of surprise by the mention of that name. 

"Good. But first we need to know if you are Hoon." She motioned for him to follow her to a pillar in the middle of the room. "Put your hand there." 

She pointed to what looked like a hand scanner and he did so. First, his hand was scanned and then he felt one of his fingers being pricked and he quickly took his hand back. The screen in the pillar began to collect the data and analyze it. After some minutes, the data came out. 

"So, it's you after all." Said Nia after reading the results.

"It's me?" He widened his eyes surprised. 

"Yes, it's you. I am one step closer to complete my mission," she smiled. "We have to leave, there's no time to lose. I will protect you from any danger since you are humanity's only hope." 

Just when they were about to leave the lab, an explosion upstairs made the place shake. From the elevator a person came out and stood in front of them. Seung Hoon couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing. He rubbed them to make sure it wasn't his mind playing a trick on him, but it wasn't. Standing in front of him was his best friend.

"Minho," he whispered taking a step forward.

"It's not Minho," Nia stopped him from advancing. "It's Him, one of the four."


	4. Chapter 4

"He sent you, right?" She asked not moving an inch but ready to fight at any second. 

"He wants you, so, please come with me." Minho, aka Him, smiled. For Seung Hoon it was unbelievable that it was the same Minho he knew from back at his time. Well, mostly the same since he looked like him but knew that it wasn't really him. 

"You know I cannot do that. I have a mission to fulfill." Minho eyed Seung Hoon and with a quick movement he got close to him. His eyes were empty, just like a machine. Nia pointed her gun at Minho stopping him from making another movement. That was when Seung Hoon noticed that she wasn't carrying a gun but her arm turns into one. He understood what she meant when she said her nanobots allowed her to transform. 

"He knows what you're doing and says he is willing to help you as long as you go to him." Minho took a step back and turned back at Nia. 

"I know what he'll do with Seung Hoon. So, I won't come with you, Minho." She pulled Seung Hoon behind her and with her other hand she secretly signaled him to run away as fast as possible.

Seung Hoon knew that he couldn't do anything there. He was no Nanoid or something like that. And again he felt that he was not special, at all, just how he was back at his time. He had no other option but to escape and as fast as he could, he ran to the back of the lab where he saw a door. Soon, firing sounds were heard behind him and just when he was near the door he looked back. 

Both Minho and Nia were firing at each other with their weapons. They were fast and easily dodged the attacks of the other, but there was the slight difference in Minho's speed and with a quick move he approached Nia and fired at her sending her flying back. Then, he turned at Seung Hoon, who was frozen watching the fight and in just a matter of seconds Minho was already near him. His hand turned into a sword and pointed it at Seung Hoon who just closed his eyes to receive the impact that never came. 

He opened his eyes and found Nia in front of him being stabbed in the stomach by the sword. Minho’s eyes widened in surprised and quickly moved back. She fell on her knees holding her stomach. Seung Hoon expected to see blood but nothing came out. She stood up and stared at Minho who was still immobile from what he had just done. 

"Nia," he whispered raising his hand and putting it on her cheek. "If you don't want to be with him, come with me, then." She took his hand and smiled at him. 

"I'm sorry Minho." She said and more than being sorry for not corresponding him she was sorry for what she was going to do. 

She raised her gun and fired it sending him flying across the room. She knew he wasn't going to die from that but it would give them time to run. She grabbed Seung Hoon's arm and tapped the panel to the door opening it showing another elevator that took them out to the mountain. They ran through the woods until the reached a cave where they hid. 

"Hey, are you ok?" Seung Hoon said approaching her when she dropped to the ground. 

"Yes. I just have to give time to the bots to do their job." He was able to peek at the hole she had in her stomach and for a split second he saw tiny lights coming from the wound. He had no doubt that she was indeed an Android. "Go to the back of the cave. You will find food there." 

Seung Hoon just nodded and did as she said. Minutes later he was back with a box and put it in front of her, she opened it and took out water, canned food and dehydrated fruit. 

"Eat this." She offered everything to him. 

"What about you?" 

"Don't worry about me, I can live without food for some time." 

Night fell quickly and the cave started to get darker and darker. But the two people inside didn't move; Nia didn’t because she was in the process of regenerating and Seung Hoon didn’t because there was no reason for him to do it. He was more convinced that he would die there. The fight between Nia and Minho made him believe that, he was no league for that type of fight. But seeing the face of his best friend there made him a bit happy, even if it really wasn't him. 

"Do you know Minho? It was a bit weird for you to talk to him so friendly. Also you know a lot about the Four." Seung Hoon commented, more to make a conversation than really wanting to know the truth. 

"I know them all. They are my friends," she smiled sadly. "We have been friends since I was reborn. Misaki was a sickly girl and would never go out, but when I was born, I was almost never at home. I met them when professor Iwari took me to a party one of his colleagues organized, since then we were always together and they would always come visit me at home. They are all older than me so I thought of them as brothers and they convinced me to go to school too. We five were considered the troublemakers and would always get scolded." She smiled remembering those times they would always get caught doing something bad, then her expression turned bitter. 

"But you couldn't be always together, right?" Added Seung Hoon, thinking about what she mentioned about their diseases. 

"Professor Iwari always blamed weak DNA to the evolution of diseases. One by one, they got worse. First, it was Jinwoo, aka Deer, we always knew about his muscular problems but they got worse to the point he couldn't move at all and would always be in the hospital. Next, Taehyun, or Ahjussi, he just suddenly collapsed one day and that was how his Leukemia was detected. Minho had a heart attack during PE class when he was 15."

She stopped talking because she didn't really like talking about the hard times they had to go through. And it was even harder for her since she didn't know about pain or all they had to suffer due to her condition of not being exactly human. Her friends would always tease her about being a monster for never getting sick or that she would heal the next day she fell and scraped herself. She never told them about her being an Android because she didn't feel it was important but she regretted not doing so because of what happened to SeungYoon, aka Leader. 

"What about Leader's accid-"

"Shh," she covered his mouth. "Someone's here." She tried to stand up but her wound hadn't impeded her plus the effort of running away while wounded made her fall back to the ground. 

"I knew I would find you here," said a shadow standing at the entrance of the cave. "You always came to hide here when you didn't want to be at home." 

"Taehyun," whispered Nia when he entered the cave and she could identify him. 

"What did Minho do to you?" He quickly approached her when he saw her wounded. Then, he looked at Seung Hoon who was wary of what the newcomer would do. "Is this the person you were looking for?" 

"What are you doing here?" She asked him to get his attention. 

"I came to take you. The more you run away from him, the angrier he gets. Even when we were kids he was a pain in the ass when angry, now he is even more so. Also, I've been thinking about what you told me last time we met and you are right." He smiled at her. 

"You know where he has my father?" Taehyun nodded. 

"He's with him. He knew you would go look for him so he held him in the main lab." 

Nia lowered her head biting her lip. Then, she eyed Seung Hoon. What was she going to do if he died? Getting her father would mean breaking into YG Laboratories and that was jut suicide. She reviewed her options and couldn't think of another way to get in. She finally raised her head and stared into Taehyun's eyes. 

"We'll come with you with the condition that you will keep him safe." She pointed at Seung Hoon. Taehyun turned to look at the aforementioned and then back at her. 

"Ok, deal." 


	5. Chapter 5

YG Laboratories was the only building in the city that was complete and without a scratch. It was the base of the four Nanoid founders. Many people that had entered the place was just to come out as Nanoids. It was like a mad scientist’s hideout. Nia and Seung Hoon entered the building scorted by Taehyun so they wouldn't get ambushed by any other Nanoid around the building. 

The place was deserted and the many halls were dead silent. Before, it was a building where many scientists would walk from one room to another doing their researches and experiments. But all that changed after the experiment with the Nanorobots. After they rebelled, many scientists were murdered and many others were turned into Nanoids. They walked through the main hall and then stopped in front of the elevator. 

"You know where he is." Taehyun told her. "You will come with me," he said to Seung Hoon. The eldest looked at Nia and she just nodded. After Nia disappeared behind the elevator's doors, Taehyun lead Seung Hoon to another place. 

"Where are you taking me?" Asked Seung Hoon after walking through many halls and then going downstairs. 

"I promised her to keep you safe. So I'm taking you to the safest place in the building. It's also where we have Professor Iwari." 

Finally, they reached a white door very deep in the basement. Taehyun pressed a button in the panel and the door opened revealing a well-illuminated white room. Inside, there were small cells with glass doors and one of them was occupied by a man. A man with a stern face but with tired eyes, Professor Iwari. Outside of his cell there was another person standing, looking at the man. He turned at them, his big eyes filled with sorrow for the man who was inside the cell. 

Deer. Jinwoo. 

"You're here again?" Asked Taehyun and Jinwoo just nodded. 

"I am keeping him company. It's the least I can do after all we've done," Jinwoo sadly smiled. "Who is he?" He took a step and with incredible speed he was already standing in front of Seung Hoon, as if he had teleported.

"He's the person Nia has been looking for," Taehyun replied more to inform Professor Iwari. The man approached the glass to take a look at Seung Hoon. "You should go back and see that he doesn't hurt her." Jinwoo nodded and Seung Hoon just shivered at the thought of what Leader would do to really hurt Nia. 

Jinwoo left while Taehyun put Seung Hoon inside one of the cells. But just before he left him there he whispered something to his hear. Seung Hoon just looked at him and slowly nodded. Taehyun closed the cell and left leaving the two prisoners alone. Seung Hoon sat on the bed that was inside the cell and sighed. Just considering the situation he was in, there was no possibility of him to go back and also he wasn't 100% sure about what Taehyun just told him. Then, he heard someone calling him and remembered Professor Iwari was just beside him. 

"Are you Hoon?" He asked, his voice was low due to the glass doors from the cells. Seung Hoon stood up and moved closer to the door. 

"I think I am." Even he wasn't sure. 

"You went with Nia to the lab to make sure?" 

"I did and she said I was." 

"Excellent. Now we just have to get out of here and carry on with the next step of the plan." 

"What's the next step?" Nia never told him about the other part of the plan because she wasn't sure what it was. 

"Next step is to synthesize your blood and create a new gene that contains pure DNA so people who are not under the control of Nanorobots can procreate healthier kids so we won't depend too much on Nanorobots." Professor Iwari explained. 

"It sounds simple." Seung Hoon admitted. "Are there people who are not being controlled by Nanorobots?

"There are. I told them to hide in my secret lab in J.I.S, before known as Jejudo. But first we have to get out of here and get to one of the labs. I hid the solution I created in my own lab in this building so I just need your blood to mix it with it. Odds have it that it can fail since I have never tried it before. So for now we need to get it and get out of here." 

"Well, that was a good plan. How are we going to get to the lab if we're here locked and what's worse in the lair of those crazy machines!" Seung Hoon's hopes disappeared. 

"Calm down. I have someone who can help us." Professor Iwari confessed. 

"Who?" Asked the youngster, happy to hear there was a light of hope.

Meanwhile in the top floor of YG building where Leader was, Nia was laying on the ground with Leader on top of her and stabbing her on the shoulder. Just a move of his sword and he could rip off her arm. They were both just staring at each other, not moving, not saying anything, not even breathing. The door to the floor opened and a smiling Jiinwoo turned to a somber one, when he saw that scene. He quickly walked to where they were and got Leader off her. Leader's arm went back to normal but he didn't took off his eyes from her. 

"Just what are you doing?!" Jinwoo yelled at Leader helping Nia to get up. "You wanted her just to do that?!" Leader just turned around and walked out the room. 

"SeungYoon," Nia whispered looking at the direction he went out. 

"Are you ok?" Jinwoo asked her checking her shoulder. She looked at him and smiled.

"Yes. But, is he ok?" She looked back at the door.

"I don't know. The only time we see him is when gives us orders, aside from that we are unaware of what he does." 

"I have to talk to him." Said Nia walking out but a hand stopped her. Jinwoo was smiling at her with pleading eyes. The door opened again and the two turned to see who it was. 

"What happened here?" Asked Taehyun seeing the two and his surroundings. There was lots of broken glass and a hole in the wall product of the previous fight between Nia and Leader. 

She took advantage of the distraction and released herself from Jinwoo's grip and ran out to look for Leader. She ran down the hallway and heard how Taehyun and Jinwoo were calling out for her. When she turned at a corner, she suddenly felt someone pulling her damaged arm and covered her mouth. Even when she didn't feel pain, she still felt as if it was almost ripped off. She was inside a little room and the one who pulled her had closed the door. Both her friends passed by and she couldn't call for them. She tried to move but her damaged arm prevented her from getting away from the person.

"Shh. Stay quiet." She calmed down when she heard a familiar voice. Her mouth was uncovered and then she was released. She quickly turned to see him. 

"Minho." She whispered.

"What are you doing here? I never thought you would be this dumb to come to this place." Then he locked his eyes on her wound. "Did he do this to you?" He raised his hand and touched her wounded shoulder. 

"He's not the same." She looked down. 

"Nanorobots control him. I heard he was brain dead when I woke up, so those pesky robots took advantage of that gaining easy control over him. That's why he's much closer to a machine than us. Even though we don't have full control over our bodies, we do think what we are doing unlike him." He clarified the exact situation the four where in.

"It was all my fault. The reason he ended up like that is all because of me." She said guiltily.

"I don't know what happened and the others didn't give me much details but there's something you must know," she looked up at him. "We all care for you, even him, deep inside, he does."

"Thanks. I still have to look for him." She walked to the door and barely opened it to sneak a peak and check if there wasn't someone around. 

"Are you really going after him?" Minho asked her when they were in the hall. 

"I have the feeling I have to be with him, otherwise he would do something he might regret, even when he's a machine." She began to run down the hall to keep looking for Leader. Minho stood there watching how she once again got away from him. 

But he couldn't think for too long about that, he had his own mission and he was going to put his plan into action as soon as possible before the Nanorobots would take control over him just like they did with SeungYoon, Leader. The other two knew it too. They didn't have much time left before they would lose all notion of who they are. They were running out of time.   



	6. Chapter 6

The air blowing on your face, the sweat running down your body, the pain in your muscles and also in your lungs from the lack of air. The feeling you are faster than your friends or that you will always walk beside them is something Jinwoo thought he was never going to feel again. After he was inserted the Nanorobots in his body, the first thing he did was run. He ran as fast and as long as he could. He got lost, but he didn't mind and just kept running. He felt so light and so good. He was normal. 

Then, one day he suddenly woke up and saw how his body was moving on its own. He looked around and saw how Taehyun and Minho were in the same situation as him. They had spent the night at Taehyun's and were sound asleep when it happened.

They walked out the house and stopped before a lonely figure in the dark standing in the yard. They immediately recognized him. SeungYoon. He was staring at them with empty eyes, cold ones that didn't show any signs of emotion. They regained control over their bodies and then they looked at each other. 

"What was that?" Asked Jinwoo but neither Taehyun nor Minho knew the answer. 

"That was our awakening." Said SeungYoon.

"Awakening? Aren't we awake enough?" Said Minho trying to make a joke nobody laughed at but Jinwoo. 

"We are the future of civilization. From now on, there won't be imperfect humans full of diseases and afraid of dying. We, Nanoids, will take care of that and create a new race that will reign over earth." Continued SeungYoon with a monotone voice. 

"I think you have watched too many movies," commented Taehyun. "I'll go back to sleep." But just before he could walk back to his room, his body again moved on its own and he kneeled. Then, the others watched in horror how Taehyun's hand transformed into a gun and pointed it at his own temple. 

"I will not tolerate disobedience from any of you. We will be the pioneers of this new era that's coming." 

During the following weeks, Jinwoo's body moved as if it had its own sentience being controlled by Nanorobots and by SeungYoon himself. He saw how his body transformed to many weapons just to slay, stab, shoot and kill all those that resisted to the new regimen his friend wanted to create. He knew it, it was those machines that were totally controlling his mind. He saw how many others surrendered to them and were turned to empty machines created to destroy. 

He suffered a lot and not only him, Taehyun and Minho too. And they suffered even more when they had to break into Nia's house. By orders of Leader, they had to take Professor Iwari and Nia Iwari before him. 

The moment he stepped into that house, he resisted with all his might, wanting to prevent himself from doing something he was going to regret. Together with Taehyun and Minho, they entered silently into the place and searched for their targets. First, they looked in Nia's room. That place where they had been countless times and shared many moments, like movies and games. Since they couldn't find her there, they went into Professor Iwari's room, nothing. The last place that was left after searching around the house was the laboratory. The way down in the elevator was in silence and they hoped neither the Professor nor Nia were there. 

As soon as the doors opened they received an attack. They covered and fired back when they could. Taehyun nodded at Minho and the latter ran outside the elevator being covered by his friends. When he took cover behind a pilar, he looked at the spot where the shots were coming and the scene shocked him. 

It was Nia herself who was shooting at them, though what was more disturbing for him was when he noticed her arm had transformed too. Professor Iwari was behind her quickly tapping on the panel from his desk. By the looks of it, Nia was just gaining time for him as she was aimlessly shooting just preventing them from getting close. However, her disordered shooting allowed Minho to get in and she panicked. That moment of distraction was everything Jinwoo needed to run at full speed towards her, successfully knocking her down, both flying some meters away. 

"What are you doing, Nia?!" Yelled Jinwoo asking her for an explanation of her behavior. 

"Get off me!" She yelled back and sent him flying by shooting at him. 

"Nia, it's done. Let's get out of here," said Professor Iwari helping her up and running to the secret door at the back of the room. 

The other two helped Jinwoo up. The three had no idea what was going on. Why could Nia transform her arm into a gun? Was she a Nanoid like them too? Then, why wasn't she under control like the others? They had no idea what to believe in anymore. First, she avoids visiting them in the hospital after their recovery and now she fires at them as if they were her enemies. It's true they had to get her and her father but they never thought of hurting them. What was worse was that they couldn't even control themselves or talk with their friend. 

Jinwoo stood up and quickly ran after them. Taehyun and Mino couldn't keep up with his pace and lost him. In the woods, Professor Iwari and Nia were running heading to their vehicle that was going to take them out of there. Nia could hear how someone was behind them catching up. When she turned, she noticed it was Jinwoo. He was just a few steps away from them and knocked Nia down rolling on the ground. 

"Nia!" Yelled Professor Iwari when he noticed the attack. 

"Run, Dad! I will be fine." She replied trying to get Jinwoo off but he wouldn't move an inch. Yet before Professor Iwari could start running again, he was intercepted by Taehyun and taken down to the ground. 

"Nia, it's up to you now. I trust you," said the man nodding at her. She just looked back at him and nodded too. Her hand turned into a gun and shot Jinwoo and Taehyun in a matter of seconds. She took a device her father gave him and ran as fast as she could. 

Before reaching the place where the vehicle was, she stopped and looked around to see if she wasn't being followed. She slowly approached the place but halted when she saw Minho and hid. She had no plan B and the only thing she could think of was to run to another place. It was already dark and she could only see a few steps ahead of her. It was cold and she had been running for a long time when she finally reached the end of the forest and could see the streets and buildings. She hadn’t even taken a step when she felt someone pulling her and crashing her against a tree, not letting her move. 

"Why?" Asked the soft voice of the eldest of the group, Jinwoo. She opened her eyes that closed due to the impact and stared at him. His eyes were confused and lost.

"Let me go." She said trying to break free but he was stronger than her. 

"Why are you like us? Why do you transform into a monstrosity? Why didn't you tell us?" His sore voice made her stop moving and just look at him. 

"I'm not like you. I've been like this since I was little, since before I met you. The only one who knew was SeungYoon but because of that he ended up having that accident." She calmly answered. He dropped his head and sighed. 

"That's good. You have no idea how frightened I was to know you could be controlled by him. SeungYoon is behind all this." He confessed.

"I know. I can fix this. Professor Iwari found the solution, but for that you have to let me go." She smiled at him. 

"I cannot do that," he said with a sad smile. "I am being controlled. The only reason I can freely talk to you is because I am not supposed to hurt you." 

"Jinwoo..." Nia pitied his friend. The kindest person in the world was now under the control of some machines and had to do all sort of horrible things. She was sure he had suffered a lot and that at that moment he wasn't in the best position. 

"Nia, I don't want to do this anymore. I have done horrible things and I have nightmares everyday. Please, do something so I cannot continue doing more things I will regret. Please, end this. If it's you, then I'll be more than happy. It's only you who can do it." He raised his hand and stopped it before caressing her head. She took the opportunity to take his hand. 

"I don't want to be the one to do that; you are a dear friend. Don't ask me the impossible. I want to ask something of you. Please, keep him safe. Keep my Dad safe," she smiled at him. He looked at her and after a few seconds he nodded. "I'm sorry Jinwoo. Stay well."

The body of the young man was sent flying and a smoke cloud appeared soon after that. When he stood up, she was no longer there but he didn't mind. He was relieved and could go back to the headquarters with the news that she had escaped. 

"Deer." Someone mentioned his nickname just when he was looking out a window in the YG laboratories building. He had stopped looking for Nia in the hallways because he remembered the first time he had to look for her almost two months ago. He turned around and found SeungYoon standing behind him. The one that was once one of his best friends was looking at him with emotionless eyes. 

"SeungYoon," the eldest whispered. It was weird for him to see Leader in the hallways so he thought there was something in his friend's mind. But before he could think of what, a hand was already around his neck squeezing it. It was his friend's hand. His feet ceased touching the floor and he tried to remove the hand from his neck. Just when he felt it was going to break, a voice interrupted it. 

"Stop it!" From the corner of his eye he could see it was Nia but farther than being put down he felt like flying. 

Everything around him was running in slow motion. How the glass from the window covered him, how the cold eyes of his friend just stared at him as if he was nothing, how the girl who wanted to save him was running towards him, how the wind was blowing on his face and moved his hair, how he felt he was going to be free from all the things that tormented him but at the same time he was scared. 

Nothing mattered because he knew the impact to the ground from the 26th floor of the building was going to end everything. His heart was ready but it began to beat as fast as it could when he saw Nia jumping and trying to reach for him. All he could do was smile and close his eyes to wait for darkness to come. 


	7. Chapter 7

"Professor Iwari." Called a deep voice. The man raised his head and smiled when he saw Minho standing before him. "We don't have much time. Let's go."

"Open his too," the man motioned to Seung Hoon's cell who was waiting in front of the glass door. "We need to reach the laboratory first."

"I will cover you. So far Leader doesn't know what's going on, so we have to be fast." The other two nodded and immediately ran behind the tanned guy.

In a matter of seconds they reached the main laboratory where Professor Iwari hid the solution; their one and only goal was to take it and get out of there before Leader knew they had left. The man introduced the code for the laboratory and they entered. Minho stayed near the door in case someone found them while Seung Hoon helped Iwari to look for the solution. 

"I found it," said Seung Hoon in a whisper lifting a box that contained the hope to humanity. 

On the way out, in the hallways, they noticed something strange. There were a lot of Nanoid bodies laying on the floor, all dead. Iwari and Seung Hoon had no idea what could have happened but Minho had a feeling. Leader found out and was looking for them. The scene grew more gruesome towards the entrance and Minho thought the worse as soon as they reached it. Before getting out, he stopped making the other two do the same and looked around to see if Leader was around but found nobody. He let out a sigh of relief and walked out with caution. 

As they stepped out the building they felt a little taste of freedom, as soon as they got far from there, they would finally be free. But it wasn’t going to be easy. Just when they were about to run away, an impact in front of them made them stop. Iwari and Seung Hoon paled and Minho just stood ready to fight but he paled too when he saw who was the one that fell, or more like the ones. Jinwoo and Nia were sprawled in front of him, the impact of their bodies created a little crater on the ground. 

"Jinwoo, Nia!" He rushed to his friends to help them. 

When he got closer he noticed Nia was the one who received the impact as she was laying under Jinwoo. He shook the eldest's body and after a few seconds, the latter moved. He seemed surprised to be alive and even more when he saw Nia unconscious on the ground. Sparks were coming out her joints and she wouldn't react to the yelling voices of her friends. Professor Iwari quickly ran to them and began to check her body. He turned her body around and ripped off her shirt to uncover her back. He tapped it and a panel came out. 

Almost all her vital functions were off and the recovery function of her bots didn't respond. He moved his hand as fast as he could over the panel to try to fix it. Seung Hoon was watching the scene with a somber face. He was wondering what could have happened for the both of them to get there and his question was answered right away when there was another impact on the ground behind them. It was Leader. Minho and Jinwoo quickly moved to protect them and Seung Hoon ran where Professor Iwari and Nia were. 

"So it was you, Him." Leader said with his monotone voice. "I almost lose my other two good pieces because of your betrayal."

"Two? You did something to Taehyun?" Asked Minho connecting the recent event with what Leader said. 

"Give them back." Replied his friend ignoring his question. "I know what the man is planning and I know who the guy that's with him is. They represent a threat to my plans. They must disappear." 

Leader raised his hand and transformed it into a gun pointing it at them. Minho and Jinwoo also got ready to fight him if he attacked them. In Leader's eyes there were two main objectives, Professor Iwari and Seung Hoon, so in the split of a second he moved and stood in front of them. The two couldn't react when they had the muzzle pointing at them but the shot was detoured by Jinwoo who pushed SeungYoon to the side. 

Professor Iwari rushed on fixing Nia's recovery functions but was having troubles with it. Seung Hoon was busy protecting himself and the box he was holding while he watched in awe the battle that was developing in front of his eyes. 

Basically, he could barely follow it since Leader and Deer were really fast. Only the sound of metal hitting metal was heard when their swords would clash. But, Leader was way more cunning and stronger, he had no mercy for the one he once called friend and didn't hesitated to stab his leg in a quick movement; taking advantage of Jinwoo's staggering from the previous fall. 

Minho didn't wait any longer and started firing his gun. If Jinwoo was all about speed then Minho was about all power and directly hit SeungYoon sending him flying making a hole in a wall from a near building. That would buy him time to help Jinwoo up and reunite with Professor Iwari and the others. 

"How's it going, Professor?" Asked Minho when he got closer. 

"I think I got it." The man replied and in a second Nia's recovery function started running and she opened her eyes. 

"Is Jinwoo ok?" She mumbled. 

"I'm ok," said Jinwoo about to get teary-eyed. "You shouldn't have done that."

"SeungYoon didn't want to do it. I saw it." She said trying to get up with great difficulty.

"Let's carry her." Said SeungHoon and Professor Iwari nodded helping her up and walking to the vehicle Minho had prepared beforehand. But just before they got there Nia felt something coming at them, she quickly turned and saw SeungYoon's silhouette from afar.

"Watch out!" She yelled when she noticed some sort of spear was flying at fast speed. 

It directly hit Jinwoo's chest making him fall to the ground. The others watched in horror the scene and Minho even fell from the inertia of the impact as he was beside Jinwoo helping him walk. Minho’s mind went blank seeing the limp body of his friend; he felt powerless being reminded of the many people being killed either by his hand or by the hand of his friends. Leader was not feeling the same as Minho and ran to them preparing a sword. Minho remained immobile already giving up to SeungYoon's will. It was for the best.

But there was one person who never thought of giving up. It happened really fast, again the sound of someone being stabbed, the gasps of the surprised witnesses and then the silence that fell letting them know that it was real, it happened.

Minho raised his head and saw Seung Hoon and Professor Iwari's terrified faces, he turned around and his eyes widened when in front of him SeungYoon's sword had pierced Nia’s chest almost destroying it. Minho's world crumbled; first, SeungYoon turns into some cold machine that makes them kill without mercy, then Taehyun's whereabouts are unknown but something tells him that he is not well at all, next Jinwoo's body is laying beside him without moving and finally Nia is stabbed by his own friend. Neither Professor Iwari nor Seung Hoon knew what to do. Seung Hoon was just thinking nothing of that was real. The day before she was pointing at him with her gun and now she was impaled by some Nanoid that was once her friend. 

Seung Hoon wanted to get out of there, run away and not look back. But he couldn't. At the moment, he stood no chance against any person there with all their technology and more with their nanorobots inserted in them. The only way out for him was to wake up, but that was no longer a dream. He just wished it really was. 

He couldn't find an end to everything he was living and didn't seem to have a way of going back. At that rate, he would get stuck in that time. For a moment he thought of his parents, what would they think when they noticed his son had disappeared, also his best friend. The Minho from his time would get worried. But the shock didn't ended there, Nia turned at them and smiled. 

"Minho, don't give up. Taehyun and Jinwoo already made their part of keeping them safe, now it's up to you. Don't worry, I know our friends are well, they are strong, so you have to be strong for them. Go, take them to a safe place. That's the last thing I will ask of you." Minho didn't say nor do anything, he just kept looking at her. Nia turned to SeungYoon and got closer to him making the sword sink deeper into her body. "SeungYoon, I know you are there. Wake up." She held his face with her hands and smiled at him. 

"Nia," SeungYoon mumbled and a tear fell down his cheek. His body began to tremble and Nia felt how the Nanorobots in his body were going crazy. She knew nothing good would come from that. 

"Minho! Hurry up and run!" She yelled at him taking him out of his trance. "Take Jinwoo with you!" Minho looked down and quickly lifted his friend's body and rushed to Professor Iwari and Seung Hoon leading them to a car and started to drive and soon as they got in. 

In a matter of seconds they were far from there yet they still heard some kind of explosion. Seung Hoon turned around and saw how thick wires tangled around the YG laboratory building and the buildings next to it. Even the streets were turned into metallic plates that were nothing but Nanorobots. Everything around the building was becoming a large field of cables as if you were inside an electronic device that transformed every second into weapons like lasers and cannons. It was a Nanorobotic fortress, in simple words, and everything that could be touched by them would get infected and turned into a Nanoid immediately. 

After a few minutes, they reached an airport and boarded a jet that was there since transportation was closed down by Leader to prevent people from escaping. Minho carried Jinwoo's body and carefully placed it on a seat, the wound in his chest made him shiver and quickly headed to the pilot's cabin to fly the jet. 

The way to the island was in silence except for the sound of Professor Iwari's tools as he was trying to heal Jinwoo's wound. Seung Hoon was deep in thought in his seat and even when he had flew many times to the island, for the first time he wasn't happy to do it. He was dead worried about Nia. Even when she was a bit rude and wouldn't behave like a girl, she was the only person he knew in that crazy world. Now, he was even more sure that he would never go back.   



	8. Chapter 8

"Just relax. Inside the capsule you won't feel anything." Professor Iwari said to Seung Hoon. 

They had safely arrived to J.I.S a few hours ago and were in Iwari's hidden laboratory under a villa. Almost 100 people were living there for the moment, all survivors of the Nanoid attack thanks to Iwari who ordered them to leave. In the laboratory, he was going to begin the tests on Seung Hoon to finally develop the serum that was going to help the inhabitants to expel the Nanorobots that were inserted in them and live a healthier life. Beside Seung Hoon's capsule was Jinwoo's. He had survived the wound that had in his chest and was recovering, though his vital signs were really weak. 

Outside, in the villa, Minho was looking at the kids who were running around unaware of what had just happened in SK02. He couldn't take out of his mind that last scene where Nia was being pierced by SeungYoon's sword and how they had fallen from one of the last floors. He was scared. Scared of becoming like Leader, scared of what had happened to Nia, scared of the future, scared of everything. He was feeling hopeless and useless. He wished he hadn't woken up from his coma, so he wouldn't have lived all those events. His smile was no longer there, neither in the people he knew. There was no more reason to smile for him. 

He had been so deep in thought that when a kid tapped on his shoulder to tell him it was dinner time, he flinched startling the kid. Minho apologized but the kid just smiled and went back inside the villa.

It was already night and during the meal he didn't see Professor Iwari, so after eating he headed to the laboratory. When he got down, he saw the man reading some lectures in a panel. Minho glanced at Jinwoo's capsule but quickly looked away. Somehow he felt guilty for what had happened to him. He cleared his throat to let Iwari know he was there and the man turned to see him. 

"I did it, Minho. The readings show that the serum will be done by tomorrow. He is without a doubt the hope for mankind. It's my first time seeing a gene so pure as his." The man's eyes were sparkling while watching at Seung Hoon inside the capsule. Minho just kept quiet. "Thanks to him future generations will no longer suffer from the evolution of diseases. Of course the serum is made for people to live a long, healthy life. Something utopic in our times." 

"Professor Iwari." Called Minho, he was a bit bothered by the man's enthusiasm over a stranger when his own daughter's whereabouts were unknown. Iwari looked at him and saw the anger in Minho's eyes. 

"I know what bothers you," the man glanced at Jinwoo's capsule to monitor the readings about his recovery. "She made a decision and I didn't want to stop her. I have no right to tell her what to do." 

"You have the right as a father!" Minho raised his voice. Professor Iwari smirked at the word 'father'.

"I'm not her father," Minho felt his anger grow at the words of the man. "My real daughter, Misaki, died 8 years ago from an unknown disease. I tried my best to bring her back but when I finally succeeded she was not the same. It wasn't Misaki who opened her eyes but Nia. Even when I raised her as my daughter, she didn't need a father. She was a free child that would escape from any space that would enclose her. That's why I decided to never interfere in whatever decision she took." It was the first time Minho heard that story. Everything he knew was what Jinwoo had told him about her being another type of Nanoid. He was surprised, though that wouldn't relieve his anger.

"But still-"

"Minho." Said Professor Iwari looking at him with a severe look in his eyes. "Don't make this harder for you. If you want to go after her, go. She wanted you to be safe, she wanted all of us to live even if that would cost her life. Think about what you need to do." 

"I don't have time, Professor," the young one looked at Iwari with sad eyes. "Nanorobots are taking control over my brain. That was why I couldn't save Jinwoo, they didn't let me. It's the same for Taehyun and Jinwoo; it's a matter of time for us to become like SeungYoon." The man looked at Minho with a concerned face. So far, he didn't know how Nanorobots were developing in their bodies and had no idea why they were different to Leader but now he had a notion of it. 

"Perhaps..." Professor Iwari looked once again at the readings from the serum that was being created and thought of something. 

Back at YG Laboratories, a body crawled through the hallways. Everything around was different from what he last saw, before he fainted. He never thought he would get attacked by his best friend. Taehyun had one of his arms hanging by a thread and his leg broken aside from not being able to see with his right eye. He was having troubles to get to a laboratory room to fix himself. Luckily his Nanorobots would keep him from feeling pain, though he had no recovery function. As he finally could reach a laboratory he frantically searched for some tools to begin the examination. 

His mother had taught him everything she knew about Nanorobotics and mentally thanked her for that. With the help of a scanner he identified the damage in both his leg and arm and then he programmed a capsule to heal the damaged parts with the help of Docbots, Nanobots that would heal. The injury from his eye would take longer to heal so he didn't bothered to fix it since he had no time to lose. While unconscious, he dreamt about his childhood. 

"Hurry up Nia! Even Jinwoo is faster than you!" Yelled Taehyun from up the hill. The five had once again skipped school and were hanging out at Namsan Mount. 

"Shut up! With this hellish skirt I cannot do anything!" She yelled back complaining at the pencil-styled skirt from her uniform. Beside Taehyun were Minho and SeungYoon just looking at the funny scene. 

"Take it off!" Yelled Minho gaining a glare from her. Jinwoo had already reached the top and looked back at her. She had stopped in the middle and the four guys wondered what had happened to her. But then, all of them widened their eyes surprised at what she did. Jinwoo looked away while Taehyun and Minho were gaping in awe; SeungYoon just facepalmed. Nia had just taken off her skirt showing her underwear that was not exactly feminine but rather masculine since they were boxers. 

"What? You said to take it off." She shrugged when she reached them. SeungYoon immediately took off his jacket and put it around her waist to cover her bare legs. 

"How is it that you never behave like a lady?" He grumbled for everybody to hear. 

"No need to." She said with a playful voice and kept walking. 

The reason they had skipped school was because Nia found out where her mother, or more like Misaki's mother grave was. She had no courage to go there alone so she invited them to tag along. They didn't exactly know why she had invited them but as their friend they couldn't reject her. She had memorized the way to the grave so she was confidently walking in the forest. She was nervous and curious, it was the first time she would visit that place since her father wouldn't take her but she knew he would disappear once every year. 

"So, you stole your father's underwear?" Asked Taehyun catching up with her. He would glance from time to time at her legs. 

"No, I bought them. I find girls’ underwear uncomfortable." She replied not looking at him as she was focused on her goal. 

"Still, you are almost 14 years old. You should be more girly." 

"That's why we call you 'Ahjussi', you always act like an old man with your oh-so-right attitude, and since when do you care if I look like a girl?" She looked at him. "If I were like all those girls from school I'm sure you wouldn't hang out with me." 

"That's not true. I just thought that at your age you would change a bit-" Taehyun got interrupted by a smack on the back of his head. He turned around rubbing the hit area and saw it was SeungYoon.

"Stop saying nonsense, Taehyun. Girly or not, Nia is our friend and we have to accept her like that." He smiled at her putting an arm around her shoulders and continued walking together with her. 

"Cunning little idiot." Taehyun grunted. 

"He was the first one, Taehyun. He's got advantage over us." Minho sighed. 

"Still, we cannot fall behind." Jinwoo looked at the two that were walking ahead of them as if they were alone in the place. The others that were with him nodded and followed SeungYoon and Nia. 

They kept walking for half an hour easily getting tired except for Nia. They reached a small but well-cared crypt in a clearing with flowers around. Nia didn't hesitate to get closer while the other four just watched her from afar. She stood in front of the door that was unlocked and after taking a deep breath she pushed it open and entered. Since it was still early in the morning, it was well-illuminated and she could see everything inside. There weren't many things, just an altar with a picture and flowers already withered. 

Nia got out and picked some flowers that were growing outside the crypt and went back inside to put them in the altar in front of the picture and lit the candle that was there. She stared at the picture as if she wanted to remember every detail of the woman's face in it. Her factions were refined, her face was small with expressive eyes and a beautiful smile. She was surprised to know that the shape of her face as well as her nose and mouth were like hers.

"Who's she?" Asked Taehyun from behind her. He looked at the picture and realized there were some similarities between her and his friend. "Is she your mother?" 

"She's pretty, right?" She said without taking her eyes off the portrait.

"You look a lot like her, except for the eyes." He compared. 

"It's my first time visiting her. Father wouldn't take me with him so I got curious and came."

"What's her name?" 

"Yayuko," she said in a whisper. She remembers her name from a time her father mumbled it while sleeping. "I hope you're well wherever you are. Dad is doing well and your daughter is well too, I hope." Taehyun looked at her with a confused expression but didn't dare to ask. It was the first and last time he saw Nia put a sad expression but even like that, she didn't cry. 

Taehyun woke up from his recovery nap and blinked several times. He still wasn't used to be blind from one eye but he had to get used to it. The capsule opened as he slowly got up, his arm and leg were perfectly back to normal and without losing any more time he walked out the room and headed to look for SeungYoon or whoever to know what had happened to the building. 

He had a hard time reaching the last floor since the hallways would transform into different shapes as if it was an alive maze. He was also attacked by some sort of machines made of Nanorobots. At every corner, something new would come up until he got to the room of the last floor. The room where SeungYoon would always lock himself up. 

He slowly opened the door and looked inside the room. Everything was black except for some red lines that would run around the place as if they were veins. A heartbeat sound was heard in the whole room and he noticed how the lines would all connect to one glass tube in the middle of the room. As he approached, he felt how his heart began to beat faster, it was telling him to run away from there, that whatever was in the tube was not going to be good. He sensed something moving in the shadows and quickly got into a fighting stance. 

"Taehyun," whispered a voice. 

"SeungYoon," said Taehyun almost out of breath. It had been a while since SeungYoon had called his name, so he thought he was back. But his hopeful face turned into that of horror when he could see that his best friend was no longer human, or at least he partially was. The left side of his body was that of a machine, everything in that side was bionic or Nanorobotic, all metal. He stepped back as SeungYoon moved towards him. 

"I did something terrible, Taehyun." His right eye expressed the saddest expression ever, contrary to the blank left eye. "I, I killed her." A tear fell from his right eye and he looked at the tube putting a hand on it. 

It was then when Taehyun realized why the sole existence of the tube frightened him. Inside the tube was Nia with part of SeungYoon's sword piercing her chest as some cables came out from the sword that connected her to the ceiling and the floor from the room. The tube was some sort of crystallized material that became clearer at the touch. The heartbeats in the room were actually Nia's heartbeat, but even when her heart was still functioning she wouldn't wake up. It wasn't even possible to take her out of that tube. 

"What's the meaning of this?" Taehyun asked in horror. "Why SeungYoon? Why her?" He looked at his friend with anger in his eyes. "Why did it have to be her?! You were supposed to protect her! That's why we all backed off! Why pierce the only and one thing we wanted from her?! Why pierce her heart?!" He rushed to SeungYoon grabbing the collar from his shirt. 

"She deserved it," this time the left part of SeungYoon talked. The Nanorobotic one. "She made me suffer. She hid so many things and hurt me. She deserved to be killed that way. Now, neither her nor me have a heart to give to each other." 


	9. Chapter 9

_When it is dark, you have to look for a light; when it is cold, you have to get warm; when you are lost, you have to look for a path; when there is no happiness, remember to smile; when someone needs help, you must lend a hand; when there's no hope, look for something to believe in._ Those words were carved on a stone near the villa where SeungHoon was residing. He had woken up some time ago and decided to take a walk. He had a lot of things to think. What he was going to do next, how he could go back, if there was something else they needed him for and what about Nia? He didn't want to believe she was dead, she was an android after all. He crouched in front of the stone and sighed. 

"I'm lost, someone needs my help and I cannot do anything, and I don't know what to believe in anymore." he said more to himself. 

"I found you." Minho's deep voice sounded making Seung Hoon stand up and turn around. He was wary of what the Nanoid could do. "Professor Iwari sent me to look for you. We need to talk about what we're going to do next."

"We still have that option?" He himself knew that he was being pessimistic.

"Seems so," replied the tanned guy and then looked past Seung Hoon and fixed his eyes to the stone behind him. "So, it's still here." He walked up to the stone and touched it. 

"You have been here before?" The older of the two asked curious. Even when Minho was a Nanoid, he was the same as his best friend so Seung Hoon couldn’t help lowering his guard. 

"Once, when I was a kid. All the guys came to spend a weekend at the villa by invitation of Professor Iwari. Nia disappeared for a whole night and I found her here. It was her who carved those words. To me, it was awesome that a 9-year-old girl would say something so deep." He stared at the words and then he ran his fingers on them. "There is one for each of us. Seung Yoon, Taehyun, Jinwoo, me, her, though the last one I still have no idea." 

Seung Hoon read the phrase again and smiled. He was being pathetic by being pessimistic and a 9-year-old girl taught him that there is always something he could do even in dire situations. She taught him that there is always something we can believe in, so he adopted the last words for him. 

Both guys returned to the villa in silence and then headed to the laboratory where Iwari was. When they arrived, they found the man sleeping on his desk. He had been up for three days without rest to monitor the serum and Jinwoo, whose vital functions were back to normal. Professor Iwari injected the serum to both Nanoids and so far there hadn't been any reactions to it bar from Jinwoo's stabilization. 

They didn't have the heart to wake the man up and just let him sleep. Minho sat in front Jinwoo's capsule while Seung Hoon went roaming around the laboratory. He noticed there were lots of stuff, some were incomplete and some were just forgotten there. But something at the very end caught his attention. Hanging from a metal plank, there was a suit, like made of latex. To him, it seemed like those scuba divers used but knowing there was nothing that normal in that time, he was sure the suit was special. Though the size was a bit small, like for a child. 

"You are some curious guy." Said Iwari startling Seung Hoon. 

"There are many things here that we don't have, so it's all new to me." The young man replied looking around but his eyes would always fall on the suit. 

"Are you interested in that?" The man asked walking forward and taking the suit. "I made it long time ago for my daughter, she was a sick girl and couldn't go out, so this suit would protect her from any harm. But she never tried it. Her condition got worse and... well, that's another thing." Professor Iwari sadly smiled. 

Seung Hoon just kept quiet because he knew who was the daughter he was talking about and what happened to her. Iwari left the suit where it was and both returned to where Minho was to start with their conversation. 

"In my opinion, I think it's best if we stay here. SK02 is no longer safe and we also don't know until when this place will be." Began Professor Iwari. 

"You and all the people from above can do that professor, but I won't stay. Not until I get her back." Minho clenched his fists. 

"You don't even know if she's alive. Going there would mean suicide." 

"She's alive! Have a little faith that your daughter is alive. And even if she's not, we have to stop Seung Yoon. He's the reason for everything that has happened, him being controlled by Nanorobots and I'm guilty as well but if I have the opportunity to fix it, then I'll take it." 

"So you plan to go alone into the lion's den? The moment you step near the laboratory, you will be attacked." Argued the man. 

Meanwhile, Seung Hoon was just looking at them. It was obvious that Professor Iwari's suggestion was better for him, he didn't want to have anything to do in that futuristic war and most importantly, he had to go back to his time. Though, the words from that stone made him feel there was something else he needed to do. He saw the two in front of him debating about surviving and hide in the safest place, and doing a one-man war against the Nanoids. Of course, surviving was more appealing but he had to express his opinion too, or else, what would be the reason for him to be there?

"There's something I want to say." Seung Hoon softly slammed the table to get Minho and Iwari's attention who immediately looked at him. "I support Professor Iwari's idea of staying here,” that made the man smile. "But, Minho is right to say that Leader's control must be stopped, how to do it, is the problem here." 

"Seung Hoon, he is going right to his death and you have to go back to your time. With all respect, you are no longer needed here." Iwari's tone made Seung Hoon narrow his already small eyes. He was tired of not being needed or to not being able to do something. 

"And with all respect sir, I haven't seen you working on that. It's true, I have to go back, but for the time being, I cannot do it. So, if there's something I can help with, I will take the chance." 

"Seung Hoon, you are not an android for you to help me and I don't think you can do anything to help Professor Iwari." Commented Minho. 

"I cannot help Professor Iwari, but I can help you even if I'm not an android. There are many technologies here that can help me to protect myself and I have a debt to pay, so I'm more than willing to go back to SK02 to get Nia back." Seung Hoon looked at Professor Iwari intently. The man suddenly read his intentions and quickly turned to the direction where the suit was. 

"You don't mean..." Iwari trailed off.

"I mean it." 

One week passed before Minho and Seung Hoon could return to SK02. In that week, Professor Iwari modified the suit so it could be used by Seung Hoon and even added a transmitter that would turn the suit into whatever he needed, except transportation since the suit was too small for that. As it was Nanotechnology, Seung Hoon had to be injected with safe Nanobots created by Professor Iwari so the suit could follow his command. 

"I hope that you don't die there. There is a place and time you have to return to." Said Iwari to Seung Hoon. 

"I hope so too." Laughed Seung Hoon to relieve some tension. 

"The suit has another function. If by any chance you succeed in what you have to do, press this button here." He pointed at the backside of Seung Hoon's forearm who was wearing the suit as he and Minho were ready to leave for SK02. "With that you will be able to go back to your time. It hurt my pride as a scientist when you said I hadn't worked on that." 

"Sorry about that."

"It's time to go." Said Minho, who got the jet ready. 

"I hope you're not leaving without me." A sweet and soft voice said. Minho immediately looked at the direction where it came from. 

"Jinwoo. But, you are not completely healed." 

"Doesn't matter, even wounded I'm faster than you." He joked. "Besides, I cannot stay here while you go play the hero. Together with Taehyun, let's bring Nia and Seung Yoon back." Minho snorted and just nodded at him. 


	10. Chapter 10

"I like you." Said the guy with bright eyes and a big smile. He and the girl were back from visiting their friends at the hospital and were sitting on the grass of the nearest park.

"Eh?..." The girl couldn't reply him. What was she supposed to say? 

"Are you that shocked that I left you speechless?" The guy continued wearing that smile. She looked at him and couldn't do anything but smile back. 

"I'm sorry Seung Yoon." The guy's smile started to vanish. 

"What does that mean? I'm sorry, you are too much for me? I'm sorry, my father will punish me? I'm sorry, I like someone else?" The girl just kept silent and that made Seung Yoon grow impatient. "Is that it? You like someone else? Who is it? Jinwoo? Minho?" The girl shook her head. "Then? Say something, Nia."

"Seung Yoon, I cannot love. There is something you don't know." Nia looked down and bit her lower lip. For her it was now or never. "Seung Yoon, I'm not human." He looked at her with widened eyes and then he laughed. 

"Yah, if you don't like me, just say so. I cannot believe you came up with that, that makes me look bad here." he tried to joke to relieve the tension of being rejected but he stopped laughing when he saw her serious expression. He followed her moves with his eyes as she stood up and looked around for something. She returned with a stone that looked somewhat sharp and she put it against her palm and with some difficulty she cut it. "Hey! What are you doing?" Seung Yoon quickly stood up and held her injured hand though what he saw left him stunned. 

"I'm not lying when I say I'm not human." The wound on her hand wouldn't drip any blood and it was quickly healing. 

"Is this for real?" Seung Yoon's expression turned a bit bitter. 

"It is. It's not an excuse. I truly cannot love because-"

"Since when?" Seung Yoon interrupted looking at her with angry eyes, he felt betrayed. "Since when are you like this?"

"8 years ago. Before I met you all. I am a Nanotechnological Intelligent Android, NIA. But that's not the reason why-"

"Why didn't you tell me?!" He interrupted again. "Why didn't you tell us?! Aish!" He paced from side to side out of anger. "Do you know what this means? We all have been in love with a machine! I confessed to a machine!"

"I'm not a machine, Seung Yoon." She looked at him with serious eyes but she was clearly hurt. She knew he would react this way but she trusted that she would understand that it wasn't up to her to be like that. She believed in all the time they spent together as friends to never break up that bond.

"Of course you're not. You are an android." He sighed and covered his face. He was frustrated, deceived, betrayed. She should have said it sooner before those feelings would have developed in him to the point of no return. He felt stupid for harboring those feelings. He looked at her but that only made him feel angrier. "I need to go." He finally said and without waiting for her reply, he just walked away. 

The more he walked, the angrier he would get because he would think about what he just discovered. Just one hour ago he was the happiest when Taehyun and Jinwoo said that they would let him confess even when they felt the same. Among the four, he was the one with more possibilities since he was not sick or in a coma as Minho. They even wished him good luck just for him to discover that none of them had a sole chance because the girl they had fallen in love with was not even human. 

For five years, Seung Yoon had been hiding his feelings but the moment they see the light, they get broken with words of deceive and hopelessness. With what face he will present himself to his friends? What would he say? That he was rejected by a machine? There was no way he would say that, it would break their hearts as his was. 

He didn't know when he began running, but he ran for a long time without knowing where he was going. He just wanted to escape that reality that hit him as cold and heartless as her. He ran until he reached the beach which was some kilometers away from the city. When he stopped, he was exhausted and dripping with sweat. The ocean breeze was cool but for him who was soaked, it was freezing cold. He didn't mind and just walked on the beach until he reached the rocky area. He smiled when he remembered that Nia liked the rocky area of the beach and he never understood why, so, out of curiosity he went there. 

And that's when he could understand why, the sound of the waves crashing with the rocks was incredible. 

It wasn't a beautiful sound but one full of strength as if the sea was complaining and all of a sudden, he screamed. He screamed out his frustration, his feelings of betrayal, his pain but he couldn't get out his feelings for her. Those were the ones that stayed even when his voice had faded and he cried the last tear he had. Just how the sea complained whenever the waves hit the rocks, he complained about how unfair life was that would make him face such situation at the age of 16. 

"What am I doing? I just made myself feel even more pathetic." He smirked and stood up from the rock he was sitting on. The sun was already setting and it was beginning to chill, so he decided to go back. 

"Seung Yoon!" Yelled a voice from afar. 

He turned and noticed that Nia was walking near the beach looking around, looking for him. He surely couldn't get angry at her because his love was stronger. She, then, looked at him and stopped walking. She knew that he was still angry at her but she wanted to clearly say why she couldn't correspond to any of them, she had to. Nia walked closer to where Seung Yoon was and he couldn't take his eyes off her, couldn't take off his eyes from the tomboy girl that stole his heart. 

"Seung Yoon, get down from there. Your balance sucks, you might fall." Said Nia when she was close enough for him to hear her. 

"You are not cute at all, Nia. Just what did you do to us?" He slowly began to climb back down from the rock he was standing at. The tallest one from them all. And several times he was about to fall, his balance was indeed terrible and that was what Nia was concerned about. 

"Hurry up, Seung Yoon. Jinwoo would be faster than you." She joked gaining a glare from him. 

"Yeah, yeah. I'm not a monkey like you who climbs any rock and tree." He said mimicking a monkey making her laugh for the ridiculous face he made. 

"Just hurry," she said between laughs but she stopped when she noticed a big wave behind Seung Yoon ready to make a huge impact at the rocks. "Watch out!" She yelled. Seung Yoon grabbed onto a rock on time and just got wet from all the water. 

"That was close." He looked back and then to the front again. 

The way down sure is longer than the way up, he thought. He looked at Nia again and he smiled, she smiled back at him but the moment he took the next step both smiles disappeared. She stood frozen there not really believing what just happened. The moment he took that step, she could only see how he was falling and a loud noise as if something broke could be heard. The sound was neat and clear which made it even more unreal. She ran to where his body was and found him unconscious. She held him and her eyes widened when she noticed lots of blood coming from his head. 

Seung Yoon put his hand on the crystal and it turned clearer showing Nia's frozen body. His human part had just remembered that day, the day when it all ended and began at the same time. He wondered how it would have been if she was a normal person and more important if she corresponded him. But those thoughts disappeared almost instantly when the Nanorobots in his head told him she was a betrayer and that whatever happened to her was what she deserved. 

He had been battling himself for days. 

"Let her go, Seung Yoon." Said a weak voice in the room. Taehyun was hanging from the ceiling being held by some wires. 

"I want to but... she is being punished." The more time it passed, the more the Nanorobotic side would take control over him. 

"Until when are you going to let them control you?" Taehyun glared at his friend. Leader made the wires move Taehyun so he would be in front of him. 

"Soon you will be like any other Nanoid and the one you call Seung Yoon will disappear forever." 

When the tension was building up between them an alarm went off in the room. Leader turned to the screen and saw there were intruders in the limit area of the now Nanorobotic city. He smirked when he looked at the familiar faces of Deer and Him but was a bit surprised to see Seung Hoon there. 

"You are really popular Nia." Leader snorted and looked at her. "You will never leave this place and I'll make sure of that." 

He placed his hand on a wall and he made it beat as if it was a heart. In the city, many Nanoids were emerging from the shadows and began to ran following Leader's commands to search and destroy the intruders. 


	11. Chapter 11

"More are coming from the right!" Yelled Jinwoo shooting at the Nanoids that were running towards them.

"Go get them! I'm busy with these ones," replied Minho while swinging his sword at the Nanoids that had ambushed them at the entrance of the city. 

Meanwhile, Seung Hoon was running breaking through the mass of Nanoids from right to left and when he thought it was enough, he stopped. With all his strength, he pulled from the cord he was holding cutting the Nanoids by half. But the battle seemed endless, more and more were coming and at that rate they would lose without even being able to reach YG Laboratories. He looked around and noticed there was a huge panel hanging on a building next to them. He immediately ran to the building using his great agility, gained thanks to hours and hours of practicing his dancing, to avoid the shots from the Nanoids. 

"What is he doing?" Wondered Jinwoo when he saw Seung Hoon breaking the wires that helped the panel hang from the building. Just when he broke the last one, Jinwoo noticed it would fall in their direction. "Minho, move!" He yelled running away. 

"What? Why?" The tanned guy turned around and saw the huge panel falling over his head and didn't think it twice to run, too. 

The impact made all the Nanoids die crushed by it. The panel broke, making lots of glass fly over piercing the remaining bodies of the Nanoids that avoided being crushed. Both Jinwoo and Minho covered themselves by creating a shield and removed it when everything was silent. Around them there was nothing but broken glass and the immobile bodies of the Nanoids. Seung Hoon arrived to where they were and looked satisfied by his feat but instead of praises he earned a slap on the back of his head from Jinwoo.

"Why did you do that for?" Seung Hoon asked rubbing his head.

"You should have told us before doing that!" The oldest complained. 

"Oh yeah, I should have yelled my plan so the Nanoids would be able to escape too." He deadpanned. 

"Let's not fight. We have a long way to go." Said Minho and started walking being followed by the other two. 

There wasn't a single time when they wouldn't encounter Nanoids on their way to YG Laboratories. The three were sure that Leader already knew they were there and that’s why they had to fight countless battles just to arrive at YG by dawn. Before getting in, they looked at each other. They were beyond tired and exhausted but they had to keep going for the sake of SK02 and why not? The world too. They nodded and then they got inside not sure what they would find in that place that no longer looked how they remembered it. 

In each hall they would find traps and Nanoids and it was no joke for them to move all the way up to the last floor avoiding being killed by some random laser, wire, spike or Nanoid. But after all the hardships, they managed to get to the last floor. Before entering the room where they thought their friends were, the three breathed to calm down and regain some energy. As soon as they nodded meaning they were ready, they opened the door just to find a pitch black room and the door closing behind them. 

"Stay together, we don't know what can appear," whispered Minho trying to see what was in front of him. But a pained scream made him quickly turn around and that's when the lights turned on. 

"Seung Hoon!" Yelled Jinwoo noticing how a wire was stabbing his left shoulder. 

"He was fast enough to avoid being stabbed right in the heart," said Seung Yoon coming out from the shadows, a grin on his face. "Thanks for coming all the way. That saved me the bother to go look for you." The screams ended when Seung Hoon was no longer being stabbed but was laying on the floor holding his injured shoulder with his right hand. 

"Where are Taehyun and Nia?" Asked Minho not looking away from Seung Yoon as he knew that he would do anything to kill them. 

"Ahjussi is there." He pointed to figure hanging from the ceiling making Jinwoo gasp as he thought of the worst. "Don't worry, he's still alive." He grinned. 

"What have you done to him?" Jinwoo couldn't believe that his dear little brother, as how he considered him, would be capable of hurting his best friend. 

"He just tried to defy me and save her." Seung Yoon approached the tube and touched it revealing the image of Nia making them widen their eyes in astonishment. "She looks beautiful like this. Ignorant of everything around her, ignorant of her friends about to die and all because he betrayed us." 

"You're wrong Seung Yoon," said Minho defending her. "She didn't betray anybody."

"She lied to us! She had countless opportunities to tell us what she is and she decided to keep quiet! Meanwhile, we were acting as fools for having feelings towards her! Isn't that enough proof?!" 

"Seung Yoon, even if she didn't tell us, it was obvious," stated Jinwoo. "It was impossible for a human being to heal as fast as she would, even if it was a single scrape. I don't know how it is that you never noticed but we were aware of that but we still decided to harbor those feelings." 

"Lies! All you say are lies!" Leader's rage was making all the room shake. 

"They are not lies..." said a weak voice from behind, coming from Taehyun. "My Mom told me about Professor Iwari's experiments with Nanobots on her dead daughter, Misaki. But he told her that it was a failure, that's why he never told anybody but my Mom about it." 

"We trusted our feelings to you, to accept her how she is but you couldn't and the reason why you are like that and why Nia is there in that tube is because of you Seung Yoon," accused Jinwoo. Leader just shook his head violently.

"Shut up! It is her fault! Her lies are the reason why everything's like this! It is her fault!" The room began to shake again but this time even more making Minho and Jinwoo crouch to keep their balance. They saw how Leader's body began to get surrounded by the metal from the floor engulfing him, merging with him. He had completely lost control of his body and the Nanorobots took advantage of it for their purpose. "It's time for you all to disappear." He announced as he pointed his hand at them as it transformed into a huge cannon product of the merging of part of the room and shot. 

The impact made the whole wall blow up as Jinwoo, Minho and Seung Hoon barely dodged it at the last second. With the wall gone, Taehyun's body fell onto the ground as the wires had been reached by the beam. Jinwoo and Minho entered into a battle with Seung Yoon while Seung Hoon approached Taehyun to check if he was ok. He looked in horror how one of his eyes was gone and his body was completely lacerated. He could barely move his left shoulder due to his injury but he helped him get up. 

"Wait, what about Nia?" Asked Taehyun as he noticed he was being taken out of the room. 

"I'll go get her. You stay here." Seung Hoon placed him in the hallway out of Leader's sight for his safety. 

The battle inside was something out of the world with beam lights here and there and the sound of metal clashing metal. Leader's control of the room gave him a wide advantage as he would make wires appear out of nowhere not letting Jinwoo nor Minho get close to him or Nia. Seung Hoon fixed his eyes on the tube and tried to figure out the way to get closer without being seen. Though it was impossible, he at least had to try so he ran with all his might to pass through that battle and get to her. 

Jinwoo helped him how he could, firing at the wires that would appear in his way as well as keeping Seung Yoon's attention on him. He finally got to where the tube was and desperately looked for some sort of panel to get her out of there but he couldn't find anything. He turned around as he noticed from the corner of his eye that there was a Nanoid coming at him. He dodged all his attacks thanks to his agility but couldn't think of a way to attack him. Just then, a wire appeared behind him and shot forward to pierce him but he moved aside at the last second making it stab the Nanoid in front of him. 

He smiled at his smart move and looked back at the tube with the intention to get close to it again. But as soon as he took a step, he got hit on his side and was thrown to directly crash on the tube. The hit made him lose some air and tried to stand up holding his side with his left hand and supporting himself on the tube with the right one. As he was about to get attacked again, the tube began to shine stopping all the battles in the room.


	12. Chapter 12

"Hurry mommy!" 

The scene of a girl running around a big prairie being followed by her mother could be seen by Nia. She looked at them with a plain expression in her face. It was just like a scene from a movie she didn't know about. Such scene was unknown yet familiar, but she couldn't feel anything from that. From seeing the two and from recognizing them. She realized it wasn't just some random event, it was like a memory from long time ago. But it wasn't her memory, it was Misaki's. 

"Misaki! Don't run so fast!" Her mother said, concerned she would lose sight of the girl. 

"She's coming mommy!" 

The girl stopped at a hill and looked up. The mother stood next to her and looked up too. They waited like that for a few seconds and Nia was curious to know what they were waiting for so she raised her head to fix her eyes at the sky. She remained in that position for a few seconds and without getting a clue of what she was supposed to see, she looked back at them but when she did, she had them in front of her and they were staring at her. She turned around to check if there was someone behind her but no one could be seen. 

"We've been waiting for you, Nia." Said the lady surprising her and noticing they were actually looking at her. 

"Do you know me?" Nia asked. She sure knew Yayuko and Misaki from photos or whenever her father sleep talked but they never had the chance to meet her. So how was that possible?

"I've been looking at you from above. Since you were Misaki and then turned into Nia," the lady smiled. "You have been through a lot lately and you seemed to have given up." 

"I don't know what I should do. Everything is falling apart and it all began since the day SeungYoon had that accident. I blame myself for it and now even more for what he has become. It's all because of me." Nia looked down with a sad face but still unable to cry even when she was feeling really hurt. 

"You are just like your father," Yayuko put her hand on her shoulder and then she raised Nia's face to make her look at her. "Blaming yourself for what has happened won't make it any better. What's done it's done and you have to look ahead. See what you have rather than what you lost."

"But, I don't have anything. I'm dead right? That's why you're here," she glanced at the little girl next to the Yayuko. "You're here so I have to return Misaki's body."

"You're wrong," said Misaki with a grumpy yet cute face. 

"Nia, dear, you don't have to return anything. One, because this is your body and life now and two, because there's a place where you are needed. You don't belong here, yet." Yayuko smiled confusing Nia even more. 

"Misaki is Misaki. Nia is Nia," the girl ran down the little hill. 

"Go back, Nia. They are calling you. If you have the chance to get back what you lost, then take it." Nia bit her lower lip and nodded. 

"Thanks." She stood there and for a moment she hesitated doing it but she had to try it and put in action what her mother just told her. "Thanks Mom." She said again hugging her. Yayuko hugged her back and patted her head. 

Nia unconsciously smiled at the gesture and next thing she knew, she was falling. When she opened her eyes, the prairie, the hill, Misaki and her mother were gone and just a blue light covered her. She took a deep breath and got ready for what was coming. She felt her heart beating again, the air filling her lungs, the pain of a fall and darkness. She didn't realize when she had closed her eyes so she opened them. The first thing she could focus on was the face of Seung Hoon looking at her with surprised eyes. She stared at him to notice he was hurt and bleeding. 

Time had somewhat stopped for her as nobody was moving. She looked around and saw Minho and Jinwoo looking at her with astonished expressions; the first, with a sword in hand and the second one with a gun. But her eyes stopped in a sole person. He was no longer the one she had seen before entering that state of crystallization, now he was almost like a cyborg with metal parts covering him and his eyes had lost the light she once saw in them. SeungYoon was no longer the person she had known. 

Had she completely lost him now because of what he had become?

"Nia..." Her name came out like a whisper from SeungYoon's mouth and she knew that he wasn't totally lost, so she stood up with great difficulty due to the time she had been immobile, her wound and the sword no longer in her body, and looked at him. She knew exactly what to do, the answer came as soon as she saw him. 

"SeungYoon, come with me," she smiled and extended her hand towards him. 

He hesitantly began to rise his hand and move towards her but after taking one step he suddenly stopped and his eyes became even colder. His right arm transformed into a big cannon and pointed it at her. 

"Goodbye Nia." SeungYoon said with an evil smirk on his face and fired. 

Nia just closed her eyes waiting for the impact on her body that never came, instead she was thrown to the side and just when she fell she opened her eyes to see that in front of her, on the ground, Jinwoo was squirming from the pain. Some of his ribs were broken alongside with his right arm. Once again silence fell and only the grunts from Jinwoo filled the room. Nia looked at SeungYoon, his face as cold as a block of ice not even reacting from seeing his friend being injured. 

Minho immediately ran towards Jinwoo and after checking his vitals, he knew that he could no longer fight so he carried him with the intention of taking him out but seeing his motive, SeungYoon pointed at him as well, ready to fire. But before he could do so, Seung Hoon reacted and moved at high speed turning his right arm in a huge hammer thanks to the suit, and slammed against Seung Yoon knocking him and sending him flying through the wall. 

"Now, it's our time!" Yelled Seung Hoon pulling Nia up, they both ran out of the room followed by Mino carrying Jinwoo. Outside, Seung Hoon picked Taehyun up and the four headed to the stairs of the building to get out of the place. 

The rubble in the last floor's hall moved and a minor explosion resounded. From under it, Seung Yoon's body rose and his eyes locked on the way where the others ran. He took a deep breath and as if he had absorbed more Nanorobots from the air, the last remains of skin from his body disappeared under a cover of metal to become a complete Nanorobotic Android from the inside and outside. SeungYoon's consciousness grew weaker against the pressure of the Nanorobots as they took complete and utter control over him. He placed his hand on the wall and just as if it were some kind of portal he went through it and vanished. 

SeungHoon and the others were reaching the first floor at high speed and as soon as they opened the door, they ran to the main entrance. The plan was to get out of there as fast as possible and get away from Seung Yoon until both Jinwoo and Taehyun could recover before going against Leader and defeat him. Seung Hoon practically knocked down the door so the others could pass without problems and headed to the street. They still had to run to the jet that was like two kilometers away to rest there. 

"Aarrgh." A scream of pain came from behind Seung Hoon and he halted. 

"Minho!" Nia yelled seeing how his chest was being pierced by a spear. 

"Hm. Your reflexes are good. If you hadn't moved, I would have reached your heart and killed you together with Deer." Minho had let go of Jinwoo just a second before he was pierced by Seung Yoon's spear and barely escaped from dying but even when it didn't stabbed his heart his left lung was hit making it difficult for him to breath. SeungYoon took out his spear and Minho's body collapsed on the floor. 

Seung Hoon was surprised. How was he able to catch up so fast? And more than that, he was stunned by his appearance. Any signs of being a human were gone and before them just stood a machine. A heartless machine that wanted to kill them all. Only, Nia and him were able to fight him. However, he was no Android like her; he had it more difficult as he had to preserve his life since he had no healing Nanorobots like any of the others. His heart sank at the idea of dying there and thousands of ideas on how to escape from there together with the others came to his mind like a lightning but all of them ended in everybody's death. 

There was nothing he could do and that frustrated him. But then, he saw Nia walking towards the enemy. 


	13. Chapter 13

Nia walked towards SeungYoon with a plain expression on her face. Seung Hoon wanted to stop her but he noticed she had transformed her arm into a gun so he moved aside to not get in her way. After all, she was willing to fight him and he had other things to care about like Taehyun who was on his back gravely injured, also Jinwoo and Minho who were half dead laying on the ground. He moved towards them and laid Taehyun next to Jinwoo. His breathing was barely noticeable but he was still alive and that relieved SeungHoon. Next, he checked on Mino, and saw how Nanorobots were doing their work at healing the wound but at a slow pace as it wasn't a simple wound. 

There was nothing he could do than wait for the Nanorobots to do their job tending on the wounds of the three and protect them in a way. He was startled by a blast in front of him and with a movement of his hand, he created a shield to guard himself and the others from the debris that flew towards them. The blast came from the union of both shots from Nia and Seung Yoon. 

They were looking at each other with fierce eyes. Nia once again charged towards SeungYoon and moving at high speed, she fired at SeungYoon who just deflected some of them with his bare hands while making sudden spikes come out from the metallic floor to impact with the other shots. From the last shot being stopped by a spike, a smoke cloud was created and from it Nia came out wielding a sword landing a blow on Seung Yoon who was sent flying backwards but his Nanorobots created some sort of shield at the last second and it lowered the strength of the impact, thus, not damaging him. 

"I knew you would be like this." Said SeungYoon glaring at her. "You just come to hurt me, but it is my time to hurt you." 

Seung Yoon glanced at where the four guys were, in a matter of seconds he sank on the floor and like a shadow he headed towards them. Seung Hoon hadn't noticed as he was checking oon Taehyun who had regained consciousness. Just when he felt there was someone behind him, he turned, his eyes was reflecting the image of Seung Yoon raising his sword to slash him but before the latter could do so, a sharp pain came from his shoulder and he felt a small spike piercing through it. He turned to see Nia and it was indeed her who had shot it. 

"So, it wasn't enough for you to see me almost die when I fell, that you want to kill me yourself?" His voice, instead of being hurt, was angry. Nia just remained silent looking at him. "Answer me Nia! How much do you want me to suffer so you will be happy?!" 

"I don't want to talk to you. You are not Seung Yoon,” she said with clear certainty. Seung Yoon laughed loudly. 

"You are right, I'm not Seung Yoon. He was too weak to face reality and he left it all to me, Leader." he grinned. 

"No, he's not gone yet. I know he's still there." She put on a fighting stance again. "And I will make him come out." 

"Heh, I would like to see you try." 

Both ran towards each other wielding their own sword and seconds later the clashing of metal was all around the place. Both were really fast and SeungHoon could just look at the scene astonished but at the same time he was focused, just in case something would happen to Nia and Leader intended to attack him again. He set up the shield again and turned to look at Taehyun who tried to incorporate. Seung Hoon helped him and the younger one turned to look at the fight between Leader and Nia. He tried to get up to join her but he wasn't able. 

"There's nothing you can do." Said SeungHoon with a resigned voice. He, too, was not able to do anything. 

"We... have to help..her." Taehyun tried to rise again but it was still useless. Most of his joints were severely damaged. 

"You cannot even stand up, how are you supposed to help her? Besides, I think this is not a fight in which we are allowed to intervene." He glanced at the figures of the two that were fighting. 

Nia was sent flying by Leader's kick and slammed against a wall. She hit her head and for some seconds she felt dizzy and her sight was blurred. It wasn't until Leader was close to her, pointing his gun that she recovered and with a jump to the side, able to dodge the shot. She ran to the opposite side of Leader as if she was running away but what she wanted was for them to get away from Seung Hoon, Taehyun, Minho and Jinwoo and give them time to heal their wounds. 

The constant hits she received made her speed slow down and soon enough Leader had caught up with her. Just before she could be slashed by his sword, she turned and blocked it with her own but the impact knocked her backwards. She quickly stood up and glared at Leader who had a smirk on his face. It was obvious that he had the advantage in the fight as Nanorobots knew best how to use Nanotechnology. He raised his hand making spikes come out from the metallic floor under Nia's feet. She jumped but on the place she was going to land another spike was coming out. She reacted on time and with her sword, she sliced it and with a kick she sent the sliced metal to Leader. 

He deflected it with his hand but soon more pieces of metal were coming towards him. His arm transformed into that big cannon that shot at the debris making it disintegrate and raising a curtain of smoke. In front, Nia was no longer there and he looked for her with his eyes. Suddenly, he turned to the right as he felt something coming and with his bare hand he grabbed it. He grinned as he noticed that he had Nia by the neck. 

"You were so close." Leader said with a hint of pity in his voice. 

"Seung... Yoon." She pleaded trying to get free from the grip but he was way stronger. His hand squeezed tighter making her tear up as she was gasped for air. 

"I like to see you like this Nia. Begging me to be merciful and spare your life. Should I do it or should I just end you here?" 

He looked at her with malice in his eyes and he tightened the grip, then lifting his left hand and after transforming it into a dagger, he slowly thrusted it where her heart was. Nia was losing consciousness and her hands that were holding onto Leader's arm were slowly losing strength. Yet, just when she was about to pass out, he let her go and she fell to the ground. She coughed violently and she tentatively touched the place he had stabbed. A little bit more and it would have reached the heart. She looked up and her eyes widened when she saw that right from the middle of his chest the tip of a sword was coming out. 

Minutes ago, just when Nia got away from the other four, luring Leader, Professor Iwari arrived to YG Laboratories where SeungHoon and the others were. 

"Professor? What are you doing here?" Asked SeungHoon looking at the man.

"Minutes after you left, I went into my laboratory and on the screens I discovered something astounding." Iwari glanced at the bodies of Mino and Jinwoo and immediately went to check on them. He sighed and shook his head. SeungHoon understood what that gesture meant and tried to focus on what the man just said.

"What did you find out?" The man looked at him and then at Taehyun who was laying next to him and while checking on him, he replied. 

"The serum I created began to somewhat transform or mutate. When I sampled it with blood that had Nanorobots in it, something amazing happened. Nanorobots began to dissolve. Of course that happened just in blood that didn't have high concentration of Nanorobots. In the cases of Mino and Jinwoo it just made them less intelligent, thus the reason why their healing is so slow. At this rate, Nanorobots in their system will stop working and won't be able to heal and they..." Professor Iwari refrained from saying those last words. 

SeungHoon looked at the two and just closed his eyes. After what they had done, it was unfair to them to go just like that. The man's words resounded in his head as if trying to completly comprehend them; but of course, he knew, he just didn't believe it. Then, he suddenly opened his eyes in realization. 

"Professor, by any chance, are you carrying some of the serum?" He hoped the man gave him a positive answer. 

"Uh, yes. I thought it would come in handy." He took out a vial of the serum. It was a big quantity too!

"Can you give it to me? I just thought of a good use for it." The man noded and handed it to the young man. SeungHoon stood up and ran with all his might to where Nia had run off to. 

He followed the traces of the battle until he reached the alley where they had been fighting. He witnessed Leader holding Nia by the neck and how his hand transformed into a big dagger. SeungHoon rushed as Leader stabbed her, transforming his own arm into a sword and pierced it into Leader's chest. He didn't think that the body of the android would be so hard and he could just barely let the sword go through but it was enough for Leader to release Nia and stop his movements. 

"What are you doing?" Nia said with a hoarse voice. 

"You're welcome." SeungHoon replied. Leader somehow turned around and kicked SeungHoon. Though the kick was so weak it just made the sword come out of his chest and he gasped. His heart was not pierced but his right lung was and he dropped to his knees. 

"Stupid human. You think such a weak attack will be able to stop me? Now you will die together with her!" Leader roared, standing up after healing his wound. 

"I wasn't trying to stop you. Well, I was, but not exactly with my attack." SeungHoon confessed, standing while staggering since his leg was hurt from the kick. 

"What are you trying to say?" Asked Leader. 

"Don't you feel less evil all of a sudden?" SeungHoon smiled while holding an empty vial in his hand. Leader squinted trying to figure out what he mean with that yet in a matter of seconds, his eyes widened and his body began to convulse. 


	14. Chapter 14

Leader's body was squirming on the floor. His skin went from a metallic shean to normal skin. His eyes were lost not able to focus on anything around him. Not even on the surprised look on Nia's face with a hint of concern as she didn't know what was going on but SeungHoon knew. He calmly waited for Leader to stop convulsing.

"What's going on with him?" Nia walked towards SeungHoon and asked, her voice still hoarse. 

"Your father gave me this serum and he said that it had mutated to the point where it can even dissolve Nanorobots. But I think, in Leader's case, Nanorobots are fighting against the serum. So we just need to wait to see what happens. I just hope he comes back." SeungHoon's eyes were fixed on Leader in the off chance, he did something threatening to them. 

"Come back?" Nia asked in a whisper. She looked at Leader and for a while, in her eyes, she could see SeungYoon. So, when SeungHoon said SeungYoon would be able to come back, what he truly meant was that the latter would be able to regain control over his body even when he still had Nanorobots in it. 

"Aargh." Leader seemed in pain while trying to fight the serum SeungHoon injected him with. Just before Seunghoon was kicked, he had transformed his hand into some sort of syringe and let the serum run inside Leader's body. In a few minutes, his body stopped moving and he had gone back to normal. His skin was all sweaty and he was heavily breathing. 

"SeungYoon?" Nia couldn't keep her eyes off him as he wasn't moving. 

Both, SeungHoon and Nia moved closer to him. SeungHoon checked his pulse and nodded to Nia confirming that he was alive. She sighed and smiled. SeungHoon carried SeungYoon on his back and the three headed back to where Professor Iwari and the others were. Taehyun quickly incorporated when he saw them return. Nia told her father what had happened and Iwari pondered about the situation. It was true that the serum had that effect on blood that had low concentration of Nanorobots but in SeungYoon's case, he didn't know. So far, it was for sure that he looked normal but he needed to regain consciousness to be on the safe side. 

"Professor, what will happen if he's not back to normal?" SeungHoon asked standing next to the man who had walked away from the youngsters. Iwari looked back to where the five friends were. Nia and Taehyun were talking while glancing at SeungYoon's immobile body; Jinwoo and Mino were next to them, unconscious too. 

"I don't know. I guess he will attack us. And sincerely the only one who can fight him right now is you, though I have to say you are not the best option." The man looked back at him. 

"Well, thanks Professor. I really appreciate your sincerity." Said SeungHoon sarcastically making the man laugh. 

"Don't you have a place you have to return to?" He asked raising an eyebrow. 

"Oh yeah." He looked at the backside of his forearm and tried to make the device work so he would return, but he couldn't help stare at it with a dumbfounded expression. "Ehm. How does this work?" Professor Iwari sighed and took the younf man's arm to point out the instructions. 

"You tap here and the numbers will appear, then you have to dial a number."

"A number?"

"Yeah, phone number. It works as if you are making a call. The device back where you left it will receive the signal and will immediately send you back."

"Well, that's easier than I thought." SeungHoon marveled with raised eyebrows. Iwari laughed. 

"Of course, I made it specially for you." Iwari laughed again and SeungHoon just pouted. He knew the man was making fun of him. 

The two talked as if they knew each other for a long time. For Professor Iwari, it was like having a conversation with your son. Something he was never able to do with Nia as he never really considered her a daughter or more like, being a father for her free spirit was something he couldn't be. He thought it would be unfair for her to have someone to tell her what to do so, he just raised her allowing her to make all her decisions by herself. It was as if she had made up her own life. And deep inside he was proud of her. 

For SeungHoon, the talk just reminded him of his father and mother. He had been there for almost half a month and he missed them a lot. Them and their dog Lee Hee. Now that he knew how to go back, he was just relieved. He would have a lot to tell to his best friend, Minho. He was sure everybody back at his time were worried about him. He had disappeared without telling anyone and he hadn't been able to contact them. He only hoped for their parents to be well and not sick worried. 

"Father!" called Nia excited. SeungHoon and Professor Iwari turned to looked at her. "SeungYoon woke up!" 

The two of them walked towards SeungYoon and indeed he was opening his eyes. The sun was setting and the light was not enough for Professor Iwari to examine him. 

"Quick, let's bring him to a laboratory." Iwari pointed to YG Laboratories. Even if there might be some traps in it, they didn't doubt to get SeungYoon, Taehyun, Mino and Jinwoo inside the building. 

Inside, they put him inside a capsule to check on his vitals and Professor Iwari spent all the night checking on him until all the results returned normal. Nanorobots were idle inside his body and his vitals were stable. SeungHoon and Nia were asleep in the hall outside the laboratory waiting to get any news from Taehyun, SeungYoon, Mino or Jinwoo. Past midnight, they were all asleep as it had been an exhausting day to all of them. Suddenly, SeungYoon's capsule opened as he woke up and climbed out. He looked around and saw Professor Iwari leaning on a desk deeply asleep. He walked out the laboratory and found Nia laying on the hall. He smiled and got closer to her. 

"Nia," he called out in a whisper tapping her shoulder. She moved and opened her eyes. All signs of sleep leaving her as he saw his figure. 

"SeungYoon." She quickly incorporated not taking her eyes off him. 

"Shh." He put his finger on her lips for her not to make a noise. "Come with me." He extended his hand and she took it without any doubt. 

In her eyes, he was back. She could see it in his expression, it was one only SeungYoon could make. Before they disappeared around the corner, SeungHoon opened his eyes, clearly aware of what had just happened. He rubbed his eyes and stood up to follow them. Nia and SeungYoon reached the last floor of the building, and the room where the first battle took place, as well as where Nia had been crystalized. She looked around the place and it was all a mess. Then, her eyes fell on the broken piece of crystal where she had been laying, dormant. 

"Is it here where I was?" She asked getting closer to take a look. 

"That time I did something really terrible; from the pain of thinking I had lost you, Nanorobots went crazy and then you were surrounded by metal that became crystal. I brought you here, so I would have you with me." SeungYoon replied with a sad smile. 

"SeungYoon." Nia's voice was subdued. It was as if it was hard for her to talk. "Leader kept saying I hurt you." She looked down as she remembered the hate in Leader's eyes when he said those words. "I'm sorry. Since that day, I keep thinking that it was all my fault. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have ended up like that. I should... I should have told you the truth long time ago." 

"Don't worry about that now. The important thing is that I have you with me and the others will come too." He grabbed Nia by her shoulders and smiled at her. 

"The others will come?" She was puzzled. 

"Yeah. In fact, they are already here." He said looking at his right. From the wall, Mino, Taehyun and Jinwoo appeared falling on the floor and then weakly looking up at the pair. "It's nice to see the five of us together again." The three newcomers got up with great difficulty; Mino and Jinwoo being helped by Taehyun, never once taking their eyes off SeungYoon. 

"What are we doing here?" Taehyun asked. He was as surprised and apprehensive as Mino and Jinwoo. 

"I brought you here. I wanted you to see when I claim Nia's heart as mine." SeungYoon looked back at Nia and at her shocked expression because of his words. 

It happened in a second. SeungHoon, who was outside the room looking from behind a wall, looked at the scene, frozen. He saw how Mino, Jinwoo and Taehyun's expression morphed into horror astonishment. He saw how SeungYoon smiled at Nia once more and how she looked back at him with a confused expression. He saw how a blade glistened from the light of the moon that bathed the room. He saw how Nia placed her hand on SeungYoon's face, her eyes asking him why. She wanted to know why he had stabbed him right through her heart. 

  



	15. Chapter 15

"Hello!" The little girl cheerfully greeted the only boy at the party. The party had just begun and they were the only kids there. He looked at her smiling face and frowned. He thought she was weird for being happy in such a boring party. 

"Hello." Replied the boy to then look away. He was waiting for his friends that promised him they would go make him company. Neither him nor his friends liked to go to the parties their parents attended to; but when they were together they wouldn't mind, and they could also eat lots of food. 

"What's your name? How old are you? You came with your parents? Where are they?" She bombarded him with many questions that he didn't have the chance to answer any of them. First, because the more he looked at her, the stranger she looked. Even when she was smiling, her eyes were not happy at all. It was as if she didn't have a soul. He got tired of her frantic voice and he covered her mouth with her hand. 

"You're really noisy." He rolled his eyes. 

"SeungYoon!" Called another boy who was together with another two kids. 

"You come at last!" SeungYoon said with a tired voice. It was as if he had been waiting for them for hours when actually it was just a few minutes. 

"Who is she? And why are you covering her mouth?" Asked a boy whose hair looked like a helmet. 

"Ah." SeungYoon uncovered her mouth and she just stared at the other boys. 

It was the first time she had seen a lot of kids her age. She had always stayed in her house without her father letting her out and that's why she was determined to meet lots of people the first time she came out. But to her misfortune, the first kid she came across with was rude to her and even shushed her. However, the other kids looked more gentle than him so she tried to start anew, this time not taking SeungYoon into account. 

"Nice to meet you." She bowed to them, she wanted to look polite. "My name is Nia Iwari. I'm 8 years old. What's your name?" She presented herself widely smiling at them but SeungYoon just shivered when he again noticed that her eyes were not smiling at all. 

"She looks like a nice fella." Said another boy, this one with spiky hair. "I'm Minho. This is Taehyun and Jinwoo. You already met SeungYoon." The boy's smile was bright. 

"You are younger than all of us, that means we are your oppas." Jinwoo was the eldest and he liked being the eldest so he would tend to remark it. 

"Oppa?" Nia tilted her head in confusion. As she had never interacted with other kids, it was the first time for her to hear that. 

"She sounds so cute saying 'oppa'" Jinwoo laughed. The others rolled their eyes and ignored him; even when he was the eldest he was cute too and would never doubt to call others cute if he really thought so. 

"Nia!" Called out a man, her father. "I told you to never leave my side." More than being concerned, he sounded a bit angry. 

"I'm sorry, father." She looked down. "But look! I made some friends!" She said with enthusiasm. The man eyed the other kids, then he looked back at her and sighed.

"Don't go bothering others, Nia. Come with me." He grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the boys. 

They looked at the scene in silence and felt pity towards her. Their parents would let them roam around the place without being told off yet she was not even allowed to talk to others. They noticed how she turned to look and wave at them while being dragged away. SeungYoon just walked to where the food was to get something to eat, but the others couldn't keep her eyes off her. She looked so miserable just standing by her father's side while he talked with his colleagues. By chance, she turned at where they stood and immediately averted her eyes, obviously embarrassed by her situation. 

"We have to do something for her." Said Minho all of a sudden. As a cheerful and easygoing kid, he would always try to get along with everybody. 

"Just leave her alone." Said SeungYoon not even glancing at her. 

"How can you be like this?" Jinwoo scolded him but the younger one just kept eating what he had gotten making the eldest sigh. "Ok, then, leave it to me." 

Jinwoo walked to where her mother was talking to other ladies and pulled her hand. She leaned and he whispered something to her ear. His mother looked at him and then towards the direction where Nia was. She told him something the others, obviously, couldn't hear and he replied her. Finally, his mother smiled at him and patted his head. Jinwoo turned to see his friends and he made a V sign while smiling. His mother approached Nia's father and started a conversation with him. As colleagues, it wasn't hard for them to come up with a topic. Jinwoo's mother looked at Nia and she patted her head. 

She was delighted to see such a cute kid, even as cute as her son and she took a liking to her. The woman told him that as it was the first time for her to attend a party so she should be playing around with the other kids as they easily get bored in such a formal environment. Nia's father tried to reasone that it was her first time out and he was afraid she would get lost or get hurt. The woman chuckled and told him not to worry as her son could take care of her since he was 12 years old. 

He finally gave up and let her go to where the other kids were. Nia glanced at her father and he nodded at her. At first, she doubted but then walked away from him. She didn't want to go to where the other kids were because she still felt embarrassed so she moved towards the table that contained food.

"After being all cheerful, she is now shy." Taehyun chuckled. 

"Let's go." Minho pulled Taehyun and the two walked towards Nia. Jinwoo soon joined them and the three began talking with her. SeungYoon just stood behind them not really paying attention to their conversation. 

One hour later, they all became friends with her except for SeungYoon, who didn't even try to get close to her. They went out the salon they were in and headed to the garden. Outside, they began to play and run all over the place, all but SeungYoon who just sat on a bench. Soon, the boys grew tired and were already panting for air, but more than being tired, they were surprised to see Nia not even sweating after all the running. Jinwoo, Taehyun and Minho went back inside to get something to drink and left Nia and SeungYoon alone. She looked at him and didn't doubt to approach him and she sat beside him. 

"You don't like playing?" She asked staring at him. 

"Of course I do." He said, as if stating the obvious. 

"Then, why didn't you play with us?" As she was already friends with the others, she wanted to be friends with him too. She wanted to have lots of friends.

"I... I'm not feeling well, that's why." Lied SeungYoon. 

He wasn't going to say that he considered her weird and that's why he didn't join them. Even when kids were sincere, he knew that there were some things that shouldn't be said. He wouldn't even look at her but when he noticed that she was silent, he turned to look at her. He startled as she was staring intently at him. She stood up all of a sudden and a confused SeungYoon saw her standing in front of him. Suddenly, she leaned and without rhyme or reason, she kissed his forehead. 

"Wha-What are you doing?" SeungYoon panicked and his heart began to beat really fast. Doing that out of the blue really surprised him. 

"I read in a book that you get better when someone kisses you." She said with an innocent expression.

"How can one kiss help you get better?" He clearly didn't believe that. 

"Then, want another one?" She leaned again to kiss him as she thought that maybe one wasn't enough to make him feel better. 

"Woah! No!" SeungYoon blushed and with his hands he pushed her making her fall on the ground. Just, what was wrong with that girl giving kisses to boys? He was told that only people that like each other kiss. His own words suddenly make him conscious of her because of what she did. His heart was beating really fast and he felt his face burning. Then, he heard her laugh. Something moved in his heart when he saw her face and especially her eyes that were brimming with happiness when she laughed. Cute, that's all he could think. "Why are you laughing?" He asked pouting. 

"Looking from here, your forehead is really big and makes your face look funny." She said. SeungYoon felt really embarrassed and quickly covered his forehead with his hair. He didn't want her to think he looked funny or ugly. He only wanted her to think he was cool. Why? He asked himself. But the answer came as fast as lightning. He liked her. 

A minute later, the other three appeared with Nia's father. He was there to pick her up as they were already leaving. Nia stood up and brushed aside the dust from her dress. Then, she waved goodbye at her new friends and ran to her father. They waved goodbye too and just looked at her parting figure. She was happily clinging on her father's hand telling him what she had done and that she wanted to go to another party soon as she thought they were fun. The man laughed and patted her head. 

"Were you able to become friends with her?" Jinwoo asked SeungYoon. He was worried he wouldn't befriend her or that he hated her. 

"Eh? Ah, yeah, yeah, I..." SeungYoon stuttered and the scene of her kissing his forehead came to his mind making him blush, his hand immediately touching the area. 

"Why are you blushing?" Asked Minho suspicious. Despite being 10 years old, he was smart when it came to love matters. "Don't tell me you like her?" Taehyun and Jinwoo widened their eyes surprised. 

"You're wrong!" SeungYoon yelled and got away from them stomping. 

"He likes her." Said Minho with certainty due to his reaction. The others nodded confirming the matter and after looking at each other, they laughed. Their friend was not cute at all, not even when in love. The three looked at SeungYoon and just hoped for his love to be corresponded. They wished for his happiness. 

From that, it's been exactly 8 years. Minho, Taehyun and Jinwoo had the same expression on their faces like that time they realized SeungYoon liked Nia, but this time it was from seeing Nia's life being taken away by SeungYoon. SeungYoon's sword retracted and disappeared turning back to his hand and all traces of being controlled by Nanorobots vanished; just the horror on his face remained. He looked at her with tears in his eyes attempting to fall down. 

"Nia." He said with a thread of voice as he felt a knot in his throat. 

"You are back." Said Nia, life leaving her body by the second. Even when she was an android, a severe injury like being stabbed on her heart was enough to kill her. 

"What have I done?" SeungYoon hugged her limp body, his tears falling down his cheek wetting her shoulder. He suddenly turned and looked at Jinwoo, Taehyun and Minho with pleading eyes. "Help me. Help me take her down." His body could barely move from the shock. 

"SeungYoon, she..." Taehyun's voice cracked from the thought of her dying. Not even the other two had the courage to open their mouth to say something as the pain wouldn't let them. SeungYoon was not the only one with great pain in his heart since the four of them felt the same for her. 

"NO! Don't say it! She will be fine!" SeungYoon fell to his knees still holding Nia's body whose breathing was getting weaker. "She... You will be fine." He looked down at her and brushed her hair. She opened her eyes that suddenly felt heavy and locked them with his.

"SeungYoon, the reason why I cannot love is because when I was reborn as Nia, I didn't have record of love, just love for a father but no romantic love, so I couldn't develop it. I could only feel what Misaki felt in the past. It was as if my emotions were frozen." She said in a fragile voice. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you sooner. Because I kept you this, you had that accident and you became Leader. Everything that has happened to you, to all of us, is my fault." She glanced at the other three whose faces were wet from tears.

"Don't speak Nia. I'll take you to Professor Iwari and then you'll get better." SeungYoon held her closer to him. She shook her head. 

"Our time here is over." Nia took a deep breath and with the last strength left in her body, she stood up. "I have done terrible things and because of me you were forced to do them too. I don't want you to deal with that for the rest of your lives." She looked at the four. "Let's leave this world together." She said with a smile. 

SeungYoon, Jinwoo, Minho and Taehyun looked at her, surprised, but then they smiled, agreeing with her. They have indeed done horrible things and it had been hard for them to deal with it all this time. They were tired of being controled by intelligent microscopic beings. What made them determined of what they were about to do was the fact they had nothing left. All their families were gone, finished by their own hands. So, for the last time, they looked at each other and after a while, they nodded. Nia walked to where Jinwoo, Minho and Taehyun were and turned at SeungYoon who approached without thinking it twice. 

"Thanks for coming here, SeungHoon." She said out loud surprising him and making him come out from his hiding spot. "It's because of you that people can go back to normal. Now, go to my father and leave the place. In a few minutes, it will disappear." 

The five looked at SeungHoon and he just nodded. There was nothing for him to say or do as it was something they all decided, so he ran to where Professor Iwari was to take him far away from there. When he reached the laboratory, he woke him up and without explaining much he led him out of the place, running as fast as he could. 

"I think I gave them enough time." Nia said. "Is there anything you want to say before I press this button?" Her body was implanted with a self-destruction command she had designed as a last resource when facing the many Nanoids but she never thought she would use it for that situation.

"I love you." The four confessed in unison. It was their last opportunity to say those words. She giggled thinking they were all silly for falling in love with her. 

"You guys are the best." They group hugged and before feeling the last breath of life escaping her body she pressed the button. "I love you all." She said, trying to feel what it was to say those words but just as she thought, there was nothing. But that was enough for the five to disappear with a smile on their faces. 

SeungHoon and Iwari had run a good distance when they heard the big explosion. They turned to see how YG Laboratories was being consumed by it and by the fire. Debris and glass flew in every direction forcing the two to take shelter behind a wall. The ground shook from the force of the blast and the streets near the building cracked. After some minutes, only the sound of fire could be heard and the two men were still hiding behind the wall. 

SeugHoon had told Iwari that the explosion was made by Nia and that she took SeungYoon, Minho, Taehyun and Jinwoo with her. The man looked down to the ground with an emotionless face. Before dawn, they got back to Jejudo and to Professor Iwari's villa. They were silent all the way as there was nothing to say. The man had already lost his daughter, there were no words to say to someone who had lost the same daughter even if she had another name. When walking to the villa, before entering SeungHoon stopped. 

"Professor." He called out making the man turn. "I'm sorry to say this when you are going through a hard time but I will go back." 

"Ah, yeah, you must do so." Said the man with no enthusiasm. 

"Are you going to be ok?" Even when he really didn't know the man, SeungHoon was worried about him but he also knew that if he stayed, he would be reminded of his daughter as that was what they had in common. They were joined by Nia. She, who was given the mission of looking for Hoon and after completing her mission, was no longer there as an excuse for them to be together. 

"Don't worry about this old man. I have already lived my life. Now, go back and live yours." He said this time with a smile. SeungHoon nodded and after dialing his phone number, the same circle that brought him to SK02 and the year 2192 appeared under his feet. He waved at the man and then he disappeared going back to his own time.


	16. Chapter 16

A circle that looked like a wormhole appeared out of nowhere in SeungHoon's room, illuminating it. Seconds later, a figure began to come out from the circle and then when the circle disappeared and the light faded, SeungHoon's body could be seen laying on the floor. He slowly stood up feeling dizzy, just like the first time he got to SK02. He opened his eyes and looked around, everything seemed like the time he left, nothing was moved and same as that day almost 2 weeks ago, it was night. He looked at his cellphone which was on the night table and took it, unlocking it. 

When he saw the screen his eyes widened. The day he left, it was 1:35 in the morning on a Saturday but the time the phone marked was 1:46am. Just eleven minutes had passed. He was baffled. How was it possible that eleven days in 2192 became eleven minutes in his time. It wasn't even another galaxy or another world. It was the same one! He pondered and the only solution or reason that came to his mind was that Professor Iwari had arranged the time he had to go back. He was surprised but deep inside he was thankful. That way nobody would notice his disappearance, avoiding many problems and explanations. 

As he sat on the edge of his bed, he sat on the device that took him to the future and after hearing a 'crack', he immediately stood up. He looked down and took the device in his hands, or more like the pieces of it since it broke. He sighed and put the pieces on the night table. Many things were on his mind that he didn't notice he was still using the suit that Iwari gave him and just like that, he fell asleep. 

The tone of his favorite song woke him up. His hand crawled to where his phone was and he answered the phone. 

"Hello?" He answered, still half asleep. 

"I'm outside your house. Why don't you come to open the door?" Replied that familiar deep voice.

SeungHoon quickly incorporated and looked at the clock. It was already noon. He hung up the phone and ran downstairs to receive his best friend. Even when he had seen the Minho of the future, it wasn't the same. So as soon as he opened the door and saw him standing there, he hugged him. It was obvious that he had missed him. 

"What's wrong with you? You still asleep?" Asked Minho confused. 

"Yeah, I went to sleep really late last night that's why I'm still drowsy and wanted to use you to stand still." He wasn't going to tell him what he had been through for eleven days. At least not yet. 

"What are you wearing? Some new pyjamas?" His best friend asked when he entered the house and saw him wearing that strange suit. SeungHoon took a look at himself and for a moment he felt embarrassed. He told him to wait at the living room while he went to change. 

In his room, he hung the suit in his closet and took a last glance at it. It was the only proof he had that what happened was real. Then, many things hit him all of a sudden. The first time he got to SK02, when he met Nia, the moments they spent running away, entering that laboratory below Namsan Mountain, seeing his best friend as a Nanoid, meeting the evil Nanoid Leader, fighting and last the five friends dying together. It had been a lot of things but they seemed so far away that it was hard to know if they were real so that suit was the proof.

He went downstairs where Minho was and joined him in watching a movie. Then, they went out as they had previously arranged, just that SeungHoon hadn't remembered. 

"You have been spacing out this whole time." Minho pointed out when they were laying on the grass of that park near their houses. 

"I have?" He asked and the other just nodded. SeungHoon laughed awkwardly and just kept on looking at the sky. It's true he had been spacing out. Many images had been playing in his mind and he couldn't focus on anything else. 

"By the way, have you thought about what you will write in the career path survey form? We are graduating soon." SeungHoon pondered for a while before answering. 

"Maybe I'll go to the university to study science." He said seriously. 

"What? You were never good for that, not even for math." 

"I will work hard." SeungHoon had never been more determined than at that moment. His experience made him really consider that. In the future, diseases are going to mutate and doctors will have it hard in finding a cure, that's when they would rely on scientists to find something that would help and that's when he will be able to do something. He didn't want people to rely on microscopic machines. Or more like intelligent microscopic machines. He wanted to find another way to help people. 

"Oh, yeah, what about that thing we found in the park?" SeungHoon looked at Minho, curious. "You know the one with the weird video." 

"Aah, this morning I accidentaly dropped it and it broke." 

"Man, I wanted to know more about that movie." SeungHoon chuckled. His best friend would never believe that it wasn't a movie but a reality, a far, far away reality. 

  


20 years later.

SeungHoon was now an accomplished Biologist finishing his experiments about cellular regeneration. It had been a hard investigation together with ten more colleagues but they are at the peak of finding a way for it to help people who have lost part of their body to grow it back; from fingers to a complete leg. He's been thinking about how can he activate the neural cells that are involved and induce a cellular physiological response to regenerate the damage. They have been studying the way animals with that charateristic make them work but it's a hard ability for humans so they are stuck. 

He looked up to the sky from the window he has been standing by for a long time and took a sip of his coffee. A tone in his cellphone indicated him that he got a message, after taking it out and reading it, a smile appeared on his face. His best friend Minho was going to be a father for the second time and he wanted to go celebrate it. Of course, he immediately replied that he was going. He was about to give the good news to his wife but at that moment, footsteps and people talking interrupted him. He was going to leave that for later. 

He turned around and looked at all the youngsters getting into the classroom. It was time for class. In the morning, he was a teacher in KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology) while the rest of the time he was working in his area. When he was offered that spot as a teacher he didn't doubt in taking it as he considered it a great opportunity to lead the future scientists. He scanned the room and smiled. 

"Good morning, class." He greeted standing next to a podium. 

"Good morning." The students replied and thus the lecture began. 

Ten minutes later, when he was in the middle of explaining the function of a certain cell, the back door of the room slowly opened and a head poked in to see if the teacher was not looking their way. The student, or more like the four students felt relieved when they noticed SeungHoon wasn't paying attention. They sneakily entered the room to find seats. 

"It's good that you decided to accompany us, students Nam, Kang, Kim and Iwari." Said SeungHoon not looking at them. 

"Oh God, how did he know?" Exclaimed the girl in the group. 

"Of course he knew Misaki, your footsteps are as light as an elephant's."

"Shut up, Taehyun." Said Misaki glaring at Taehyun. 

"You come late and still have the nerve to interrupt my class?" Asked SeungHoon raising an eyebrow, this time looking at them. 

"We are very sorry, teacher!" Bowed one of the students. 

"Ok, Jinwoo is exent of punishment. The rest, SeungYoon, Taehyun and Misaki, will have to give me an essay on today's class." The last three grunted and looked with envy at Jinwoo. "Now sit and let me continue." SeungHoon ordered and the four obeyed. 

When he turned, a smile appeared on his face for the second time that morning. It was surprising for him to encounter them in his time, the same people that he met in the year of 2192. He first wondered why there wasn't a Minho in their group but he came to the conclusion that there was already one living in that time, that's why there was only a Kang Seung Yoon, a Nam Tae Hyun, a Kim Jin Woo and an Iwari Misaki. 

The first time he saw them he wanted to go greet them but of course, if he did that they would freak out. Several times he was also about to call Misaki by the name of Nia but he would be able to stop himself at the last moment. 

Still, this time he was going to make sure that they were going to do things right and not end up like in the SK02 of 2192. That time it all began with a simple accident, that lead to the development of the Project Hoon that he was involved in and it was finished with the death of the first Nanoids and Nia. SeungHoon would still wonder what happened after he left but as Professor Iwari told him, it was more important for him to live his life; only then he would stop thinking about it. Thinking about those moments, he realized they were now vague in his memory because... it was another time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At that's it, folks! This is the last chapter of Project Hoon. 
> 
> Tomorrow I will post the other story I have of Minho to continue my WINNER month! lol 
> 
> Prepare tissues for tomorrow! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)   
Nah, jk, tissue to dry tears because the fic has its heavy parts....   
(ಥ﹏ಥ)


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